I have been on a mission to find the perfect cookie for an ice cream sandwich and I think these Olive Oil Oatmeal Cookies are as close as I am going to get.

I feel that the cookie must not be too hard and crunchy because when you bite in it the ice squishes out, making a terrible mess. And on top of that the cookie must not be too sweet (the ice cream is sweet enough) with the flavour of the cookie not competing with the flavour of the ice cream. The recipe for the Olive Oil Oatmeal Cookies came to me via Heartbeet Kitchen. They are soft enough to hold the ice cream but not squish out all the ice cream and while sweet and flavourful don’t overpower the flavour of the ice cream.

The cookies are super easy to make and as the cookie uses almond meal in stead of wheat flour they are gluten free. The sweetness comes from the honey (no refined sugar) and raisins. I replaced the raisins with some goji berries for some added superfood goodness but they did lose a bit of their colour when baked.

The original recipe called for pumpkin spice but I replaced it with some speculaas spice mix I have. You could use some cinnamon or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. The cookies are great on their own but when using them as the cookie for an ice cream cookie, pop them back in the freezer for an hour or so once you have made the sandwich to let the cookie and ice cream firm up a bit. Enjoy!

I am thrilled that the Recipe Index has been given a visual makeover. Instead of just a recipe listing, every recipe now shows the image of the dish, making it much easier to search and find a recipe to prepare. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Soft Olive Oil Oatmeal Cookies

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Ingredients

Makes 12 cookies
3/4 cup ground almonds
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp speculaas spice or cinnamon
1/4 cup Baleia Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1 tbsp nut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
In a large bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, oats, baking powder, salt, and speculaas spice
In another bowl, whisk together olive oil, honey, egg, nut butter, and vanilla
Pour 1/2 of liquid mixture into dry and stir a few times, then pour remaining in and whisk lightly until no dry streaks remain
Fold in the raisins
Using a cookie dough scoop or ice cream scoop and scoop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper
Flatten the cookies a bit and leave enough space between them to spread a bit
Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown and then let it cool for at least 10 minutes to firm up before removing from the paper
Place the cookies onto cooling rack to finish cooling

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** Olive Oil provided by Baleia Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I am proud to be associated with Baleia Extra Virgin Olive Oil and use it whenever a recipe requires Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The South African cold press extra virgin Olive Oil is produced in the Riversdale area, has a whiff of fresh cut grass and aromas of green tomatoes, almonds artichokes and green apples.

See below for a few more of my favourite cookie and biscuit recipes :

Gingernut Crusted Chocolate Brownies