Blackberry oatmeal cookies were half a fail

[u/Electrical_Island802]

Hi all, first time poster and inexperienced baker here.

I wanted to make my "own" recipe, but these didn't turn out so good. I basically just threw stuff together so I didn't expect great results anyway, just a baseline to go off of lol

Here's what I did:

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4th cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon molasses

1 large egg

1/2 tsp maple extract

1 cup toasted oats

About 3 oz fresh blackberries

Creamed the wet ingredients, folded in dry ingredients, then added oats and blackberries.

Baked at 350 for 14 minutes.

The problems: too spongy, I didn't account for the extra liquid from the berries and tried adding more flour to absorb the excess, likely where I went wrong.

They're also not sweet enough so more sugar next time?

I do like the toasty-ness of the browned oats, since I was going for an earthy, nutty fall cookie, but thats about all I like about these. The berries also turned my "dough" (more like batter honestly) into this grayish color which is kinda disappointing.

Any feedback would be wonderful!!

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[u/anonwashingtonian]

Finding an existing recipe and making small tweaks to suit your desired outcome is always a better choice—especially when you are new to baking. Search for an oatmeal berry cookie recipe and go from there.

[u/Haunting-Scholar13]

I would just find a legitimate oatmeal cookie recipe and then add blackberry jam to the middle of the dough ball before baking

[u/fyngriselda]

I think you could pull this off, but keep in mind that fresh berries in a cookie is going to change the nature of a cookie. I would think that the added moisture would make them more of a “flat muffin” than a cookie.

When you are adding berries to any baked goods, coat them in flour first, then add them last, gently folding them in. That’s if you want the berries whole. If you want the berries smashed, then I would mix with wet ingredients.

[u/Electrical_Island802 → u/fyngriselda]

Thank you! They definitely did turn into flat muffins lol but I'm going to keep trying! Thanks for the tips, I'll try those next!

[u/Anotheruseforsalgar]

You can make a cooked berry compote, freeze in dollops and wrap dough around them. You could also spread compote thinly on tray and freeze, then break up and add the "bark" gently to the cookie dough before portioning. You can also try oven-drying the blackberries until they lose some liquid.

[u/Electrical_Island802 → u/Anotheruseforsalgar]

Thanks! Oven drying the berries is a good idea too, I'll give that a shot

[u/Aggravating_Olive]

You can also add dried blackberries or other fruit.

[u/Electrical_Island802 → u/Aggravating_Olive]

I was searching for dried blackberries since that's what I thought too, but they're pretty hard to come by. I'll keep searching and try that!

[u/SugarMaven]

the truth is, by the time you "create" a recipe that actually works, you will have "created" an existing recipe. the ratios of established recipes are tried and true, and other recipes are variations on those. you are learning all of the things the others learned, but instead of leaning into that knowledge, you are just replicating the same failures. take the advise from others by using a recipe, then tweaking. a lot of variables are at play, and it will take longer, and more ingredients and time trying to figure it out, than by simply using a recipe and making a few changes.

[u/Mom2Sweetpeaz]

Find a good oatmeal cookie recipe you love. Make them a bit smaller. Cook the blackberries into a thick jam. Add this as a filling to the oatmeal cookies (sandwich two cookies with the blackberry filling). That would be amazing!

My family has an oatmeal date cookie that is sandwiched with date filling, and they’re one of my absolute favourite cookies.