Today’s experiments provided a mixed bag of results. The cinnamon apple additions worked great but I need to find a maple glaze recipe that provides a less sugary and a stronger maple flavor.

Chewy oatmeal cookies (this recipe is essentially for a whoopie pie but makes a tasty cookie) –

1 cup unsalted butter softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cook or old fashioned oats

Cream together the butter and the sugars for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add oats and mix until incorporated. Then add other mix ins. For this batch I did a half bag of mini semi-sweet morsels and 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Then I split the batch in half. For one half, I diced 1/2 a gala apple and let the pieces sit in a coating of cinnamon while I prepped the dough. I added this to one of the portions of dough and mixed until evenly distributed. For both portions of dough, spoon into a greased whoopie pie sheet and bake at 350F for 13-15 mins until they start to brown. Let cool in the sheet for 5 mins before moving cookies to a cooling rack.
(Cookie recipe from My Baking Addiction)

Maple glaze –
1/4 cup milk or cream (I used milk)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (This amount makes it very sweet)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place butter, milk, and syrup into a sauce pan and bring to a boil on low heat, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Finish by whisking in powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy. Drizzle or pour over cookies and let cool.
(Glaze recipe from 2teaspoons

Oatmeal cookies with vanilla glaze

Both sets of oatmeal cookie experiments