All the Fruits but not Quite All the Satisfaction: Oatmeal and All the Dried Fruits Cookies

I love any type of dried fruit in an oatmeal cookie. Raisins, currants, apricots, cranberries, cherries, you name it -- I'm a fan. So I had to try Kelly Fields' recipe for "Oatmeal and All the Dried Fruits Cookies," which include equal volumes of cranberries, golden raisins, and dried apricots (and of course, you can use whatever fruit you want if those varieties don't float your boat). And the cookbook photo is enticing -- big, substantial cookies studded with plump chunks of multi-colored fruit.

To make the cookie batter, you cream room temperature butter with sugar and brown sugar until light; add eggs; gradually add the dry ingredients (oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and kosher salt); mix in the vanilla; and incorporate the fruit. I portioned out the dough with a #20 scoop and got 34 cookies that I put in the freezer for a full day (the freezing is a required step in the recipe) before topping them with Maldon salt and baking.
I was very unhappy with the way these cookies behaved in the oven. They spread a tremendous amount (especially considering they were frozen solid before baking), and the edges became quite thin and prone to over-browning. The cookies were also quite misshapen after baking and I worked quickly with a silicone spatula while the cookies were hot out of the oven to tidy up the edges and scoot them into nicer-looking shapes. 

While I didn't like the way these cookies looked, they tasted great. Despite being so thin, they were quite chewy, and the generous amount of dried fruit added a ton of interesting texture and flavor. Still, this seemed like a lot of effort (and time and freezer space) to get cookies that weren't attractive and not particularly memorable. I do have to note that I used old-fashioned oats (the only type I keep in the house) instead of the quick-cooking oats specified in the recipe, so I can't rule out that my substitution adversely affected the outcome. 
 
But there are a lot of oatmeal cookies that I prefer to this recipe. If you're in the mood for an oatmeal-dried fruit cookie, I would recommend several from Sarah Kieffer (Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate and Golden Raisins, and White Chocolate, Rosemary, and Apricot Cookies); the Toffee-Apricot Oat Cookies from State Bird Provisions; David Lebovitz's Cranzac Cookies, or Tom Douglas' Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies.

Recipe: "Oatmeal and All the Dried Fruits Cookies" from The Good Book of Southern Baking by Kelly Fields, recipe available here. 

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