Rollerblade Cookies

These are honey-sweetened ginger cookies cut into boot shapes with toasted oats stuck to the bottoms as rollerblade wheels. A great kid project, especially with reluctant bakers who warm up once they get to glue the “wheels” on.

Honey is the dominant sweetener here, with just a cup of brown sugar backing it up. This gives the cookies a softer, chewier texture than a standard all-sugar rolled cookie.

Chilling the dough 30 minutes is not optional. Honey doughs run very soft at room temperature, and a warm dough will spread into puddles instead of holding the crisp boot outline.

The oats go on before baking, not after. Brushing each boot bottom with egg white glue and pressing six oats in a line fixes them in place as the cookie sets.

Kitchen Tips

• Toast the oats first in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant. Raw oats look pale and uninteresting against a baked cookie.
• Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. This skips extra flour and keeps the cookies from getting tough on re-rolls.
• Press the oats firmly into the egg white mixture. A light touch means they’ll pop off when you lift the cookie off the sheet.
• Bake just until the edges turn light golden. Honey cookies can go from done to burnt in about 90 seconds.

Variations

• Skip the boot cutter and use any shape, stars with candy pressed on become Christmas ornaments, hearts for Valentine’s.
• Drizzle cooled cookies with a thin white icing glaze for extra detail and sweetness.
• Swap ground ginger and cinnamon for cardamom and nutmeg for a different spice profile.