Whenever I ask Kin what kind of cookies he'd like me to bake, he reminds me of how he ranks his favorites: peanut butter are okay; chocolate chips are good; better are my molasses cookies; and the best are oatmeal.

I found a pretty good oatmeal cookie recipe online a while ago. (Jump to the Recipes) It makes a soft cookie — a necessity — but it's just too sweet for me. Kin loves it, and to be honest, when I bake cookies they're really to fit his taste-buds. But after trying the miso-peanut butter cookies a few weeks ago, I thought I'd see if I could make a batch of oatmeal cookies that were less sweet, with the umami that miso adds.

I feel quite validated about using miso in my baking, incidentally, particularly after Crystelle, a contestant in this season's Great British Bake Off incorporated it into a couple of her caramel contributions this past week. "It's like salted caramel," she explained to the skeptical judges. "YES!" I shouted at the television. (She won Baker of the Week too, I might add.)

I probably should have just modified my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe to make it "healthier," but instead I googled the whole "healthy oatmeal cookie" thing and opted to try one with far less sugar. And as I've never actually baked this recipe before without miso, it's hard to judge fully how the addition of that ingredient affected the texture and taste.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies

This is based on the recipe that appears on the Sugar Spun Run blog.

Prep time: 40 minutes  ·  Cooking time: 10 minutes  ·  Servings: 34  ·  Calories: 116

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Instructions:

1. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Then add in the vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until completely combined.
5. Stir in oats.
6. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 375 and line cookies sheets with parchment paper.
8. Drop cookie dough by rounded 2 tablespoon-fulls onto the parchment paper -- about a dozen per sheet. (These will spread slightly.)
9. Bake for 10 minutes. They will look underbaked, but will finish cooking on the cookie sheet as they cool.
10. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet.

Not-So-Sweet Miso Oatmeal Cookies

This is based on the recipe that appears on the Well Plated website.

Prep time: 40 minutes  ·  Cooking time: 10 minutes  ·  Servings: 24  ·  Calories: 73

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tbs white miso
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 7 tbs honey

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the applesauce, melted butter, miso, egg, vanilla, and honey. Whisk until blended.
3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir just until combined. The dough will be very wet and sticky. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. Drop 1.5 tablespoon size balls of dough onto cookie sheet - one dozen will fit per sheet. This dough will not spread, so flatten the balls slightly.
7. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes.
8. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Some Baking and Tasting Notes

The "healthy" cookies were smaller, and as such, it's a bit silly to make too much out of a calorie comparison. That word "healthy" is a tricky one in any baked good. I mean, yes, there was less sugar and less fat. "Healthy" though? Hmm.

I used one tablespoon less honey and one tablespoon less butter than the original recipe, adding in two tablespoons of miso. Other than that, I followed the recipe to a tee. But I wish I'd used old fashioned rolled oats rather than the quick oats that the original suggested. That made them very soft and almost cake-like, and I think the texture that old fashioned oats provides is much better, much... well... oatier. Interestingly, these cookies stayed soft for a long time - is that a result of the fermentation from the miso? I don't know. The peanut butter-miso cookies held their softness as well. (I'm not sure how I'd find the answer here.)

All-in-all, I think I'll stick with making the first recipe when baking oatmeal cookies for Kin. But my experimentation with miso - in cookies and otherwise - will continue...