When I was fresh out of university I moved away to the big city and found myself living far away and feeling nostalgia for home baking. I bought myself a few cook books, including a giant book of cookie recipes.

The first recipe I made was called “Monster Cookies” and resulted in 24 giant cookies that were so filling they lasted me a month and gave me a stomach ache every time I ate more than one.

They were also full of weird, preserved ingredients that I don’t usually keep on hand anymore and don’t like buying just for this recipe.

Twenty years later of baking these now-favs, I’ve modified the recipe to incorporate a lot more natural ingredients, to tone down the size, sweetness, and fat content, and (I think) substantially enough to give it a new name. Honey Oat Grizzlies… because it feels like honey and hiking food are something a bear would love.

Recipe

DifficultyStove & Oven

These flour-free cookies are chewy and fully of rich flavours, and so filling that they’d satisfy even a hungry bear!

Yields48 Servings
Total Time1 hr

Ingredients

 1.25 cups brown sugar, packed
 1 cup white sugar
 0.75 cup butter, softened
 3 eggs
 1 cup peanut butter
 1 tbsp honey, liquid
 2 tsp baking soda
 1 tbsp vanilla
 4.50 cups oats, quick (uncooked)
 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2

Combine sugars with butter in a stand mixer and beat until well blended.

3

Beat in eggs. Beat in peanut butter, honey, baking soda, and vanilla.

4

Remove from mixer and combine with oats and chocolate chips in a large bowl.

5

Portion using a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop and drop 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

6

Bake 11-13 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Let rest on cookie sheet for 4 minutes, then carefully remove to let cool completely and set.

Ingredients

 1.25 cups brown sugar, packed
 1 cup white sugar
 0.75 cup butter, softened
 3 eggs
 1 cup peanut butter
 1 tbsp honey, liquid
 2 tsp baking soda
 1 tbsp vanilla
 4.50 cups oats, quick (uncooked)
 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2

Combine sugars with butter in a stand mixer and beat until well blended.

3

Beat in eggs. Beat in peanut butter, honey, baking soda, and vanilla.

4

Remove from mixer and combine with oats and chocolate chips in a large bowl.

5

Portion using a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop and drop 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

6

Bake 11-13 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Let rest on cookie sheet for 4 minutes, then carefully remove to let cool completely and set.

Honey Oat Grizzly Cookies

A few baking notes:

First, these take a good hour out of the oven to harden up. You can eat them sooner, of course, but they are very fall-aparty until set… which they eventually do very nicely. But until then they will bend, warp, stretch, and easily break until cooled.

Second, these are flour free cookies, so if you choose your peanut butter right I imagine these would make great gluten-free snacks. I eat more than my share of gluten, so I don’t know for sure, but given that the distinct lack of flour in my ingredient list is not an oversight, I suspect gluten-free folks can work back from there.

Enjoy!

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