Hoppy Seltzer & Oatmeal Cookies
Foreword
This tag-team of recipes was born after Chris became hooked on hoppy seltzers - refreshing, non-alcoholic, zero-calorie drinks. Determined to reduce his beverage budget, Chris first researched how to make his own hoppy seltzer. This endeavor created saturated hops as a byproduct, and not wanting them to go to waste the hoppy oatmeal cookie was born.
This recipe makes around 20 cookies.
Ingredients
Hoppy Seltzer:
- 30g Cascade pellet hops
- 200g high-proof grain alcohol
- Seltzer water
- Optional: elderflower syrup
Hoppy Oatmeal Cookies:
- 7g (~1 Tbsp) flaxseed meal
- 120g (½ cup) unsalted butter
- 4 drops green food coloring
- 8g (~2 tsp) saturated hops
- 100g (~½ cup) brown sugar
- 94g (¾ cup) all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 120g (1 ½ cups) old fashioned oats
Directions
Hoppy Seltzer:
- Combine the hops and alcohol in a sealed, glass jar.
- Allow the hops to sit for 2 weeks, gently shaking occasionally.
- Strain to separate the liquid “hop extract” from the “saturated hop” solids, keeping both. Give the hops a light squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible.
- In a glass, combine 1ml of hop extract with 1 cup of seltzer water (or to taste).
- Optionally include 2ml of elderflower syrup.
Hoppy Oatmeal Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- In a cup, add 37g (2 ½ Tbsp) of water to 7g of flaxseed meal. Allow to sit for 5 minutes to create a “flax egg”.
- Microwave the butter until just melted.
- Mix together the butter, brown sugar, and green food coloring in a stand mixer.
- Add in 8g of saturated hops and the flax egg, and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer and mix well.
- Mix in the old fashioned oats.
- Scoop into 1 inch balls of dough and place onto a parchment paper lined AirBake cookie sheet. (If you don’t have AirBake, double up your cookie sheets.)
- Bake for 13 minutes, or until the edges begin to turn a darker shade.
- Let the cookies cool slightly (~5 minutes), then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
One of the tricks with oatmeal cookies that they can become really dry just a day after cooking them. This recipe uses melted butter and a lower baking temperature to produce cookies that stay moist much longer.