Agave Honey Oatmeal Cookies is a recipe I posted years ago when agave nectar was introduced as a low glycemic, immunity boosting, bone density enhancing (I could go on here) substitute for sugar. Ten years later we know more about its effects on the body. For instance, while agave doesn't immediately spike blood sugar, it's high in fructose, which stays in the liver longer and which could potentially build up and lead to insulin resistance and weight gain.

That is just my understanding, and because I am old and have seen so many things put on pedestals and then dethroned, I am a little skeptical. Still, the more I read about agave the less I want to use it. I'd love to see some studies showing it really does have benefits, but so far it's not looking good.

The fact is there are a lot of different types of syrups we can bake with. If you like using agave in moderation, these cookies are pretty good. You could also try substituting a different syrup or combining a few others.

I don't do a lot of baking with agave these days, but I've kept this recipe around because it's a fun one to play with. These Agave Honey Oatmeal Raisin Cookies combine the two syrups to make sweet, chewy, soft oatmeal raisin cookies I've updated the recipe and have added some notes. Despite being a simple recipe, it's not foolproof for a few reasons, but it's a small batch recipe that's fun to experiment with.

Substitutes for Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

When I went back to make these, my first thought was I needed to use something other than whole wheat pastry flour. I tried 2 oz weight of other flours, cake and all-purpose. Cake flour worked and helped with spread. All-purpose worked too, but there was less spread even though I was using the same weight as the pastry flour. This probably was due to the protein content. Whole wheat pastry flour is ideal, but you can use substitutes.

Measuring Agave Syrup & Honey

It's easy to be a little off on syrup recipes when measuring by volume because a tablespoon can weigh as little as 15 or up to 20 grams. When I made my recent batch, the cookies weren't sweet enough and didn't spread. It's because I was measuring by volume, and syrups can weigh anywhere from 15 to 20 grams per tablespoon each. I went back and made the cookies using tablespoons of honey that weighed 20 grams each and the recipe worked as usual. I also tried increasing the ratio of honey to agave and found that I needed a tad more honey to get the right sweetness. That's because agave is sweeter than honey.

Leaving Out the Agave Completely

I also tried leaving out the agave syrup completely and just using honey and brown sugar. That worked too. I used 40 grams of honey ( 2 tablespoons) and 36 grams of brown sugar (about 3 tablespoons). However, if you are leaving out the agave you may not want to even bother with this recipe. You could just make the Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cookies.

Two Tablespoon of Egg

This is kind of an annoying measurement, but I always find ways to use the other 24 grams of egg. If you keep a carton of pasteurized egg product in the refrigerator, you can use 2 tablespoons of it instead.

Grapeseed Oil or Olive Oil

Grapeseed oil is my new favorite oil for baking because it has a more neutral flavor. Or at least it does to me! Aldi sells it as a pretty reasonable price. If you want flavor, you can use extra virgin olive oil. I haven't tested with coconut oil, but I suspect the cookies will spread less with that.

More Agave Honey Oatmeal Cookies Tips

The batter will seem a bit loose/wet at first. If for some reason it is too loose for you to scoop, cover and chill or just let it stand for 10 minutes so that the oats soak in some moisture.
The cookies aren't super sweet, so it's important to add raisins or chocolate chips for sweetness. The cinnamon adds a lot of flavor as well.
The Agave Honey Oatmeal Cookies recipe is good as written, but if you happen to have some almond flour (something that wasn't widely available when I first posted this recipe), adding 1 ½ tablespoons of almond flour to the dough adds some richness and even more structure.

Recipe