Rhubarb White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Rhubarb White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are both sweet and tart and completely indulgent too! The flavour combination is created by pairing tart rhubarb with oats, sugar, white chocolate chips, and vanilla pudding mix! These cookies are massively large, soft, chewy, and delicious!

You might be asking yourself if Lord Byron’s Kitchen needs another cookie recipe, and the answer, Dear Reader, is yes! Presently, I would guess that there are over 200 cookie recipes published here for everyone to explore and of course, bake! And, extra large cookies are no stranger either! In fact, I think all cookies should be extra large, so these Rhubarb White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are most certainly in good company!

My obsession with these types of cookies all started with my Jumbo Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. Since I discovered those about four years ago, I continue to bake them and I also bake variations of that recipe. That’s exactly what happened in this case. I was craving the flavour of rhubarb, so I decided to make a version with lots of rhubarb goodness.

In the introduction, I mentioned that I used vanilla pudding mix in these cookies too. It’s not the first time I used pudding mix in cookies. Remember these Pistachio Pudding Cookies from my second Christmas countdown series? And, I also used pudding mix in these Butterscotch Gingerbread Cookies in the third installment of Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series.

As a food blogger, I will often spend quite a bit of time thinking about food. Many times that food already exists a certain way and I think about how to spin it so that it’s completely different. This one particular day, I remembered the chocolate chip cookies that my friend, Deana, used to make. She used to make the best, super soft and moist cookies and she once told me that her secret was a package of vanilla pudding dry mix. It was just what these cookies needed!

HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post. 

• Unsalted Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature!
• Sugar – Sugar will caramelize when baked, which will help to brown the cookies, it will also help the dough to spread and create a crispness to the bottom of the cookie.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract
• Flour – Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Oats – Use quick oats.
• Baking Soda – Activated by a liquid, it’s acid to help with leavening or rising. 
• Salt – In baking it helps to enhance and balance sweetness. 
• Cornstarch – When added to cake, cookie and shortbread recipes, cornstarch helps create a crumbly and tender dessert-like texture.
• White Chocolate Chips – I use chocolate chips a lot in my recipes, and I change up the type depending on how I feel.  Unless the recipe states otherwise, you can use milk, semi-sweet, or dark chips. 
• Rhubarb – Use only fresh rhubarb. Trim it and cut it into small dice for even distribution throughout the cookie.
• Vanilla Pudding – See section below.

FOR THE OPTIONAL GLAZE:

• Confectioner’s Sugar – This superfine sugar is sometimes called powdered sugar.  It is used in frostings quite often. 
• Milk

MAKE YOUR RHUBARB RUBY RED!

Only the bottom half of the rhubarb stalk is a beautiful ruby red and pinkish colour. The top half is usually green – almost a yellowish green. If you want beautiful, bright red flecks of rhubarb in your cookies, soak the diced rhubarb in grenadine for a half hour. Drain well, pat dry, and use as the recipe instructs.

Let’s debunk one popular belief – grenadine is not cherry or strawberry syrup. In fact, grenadine is made with pomegranates. It is a syrup used primarily as a cocktail mixer. The pomegranate juice is boiled with sugar and reduced until thick and syrupy. You will find hints of citrus flavour and a gloriously stunning red colour.

HOW TO MAKE LEMON GLAZED OATMEAL WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone liner or with parchment paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Add the following ingredients in this order: flour, oats, baking soda, salt, cornstarch, and dry vanilla pudding mix. On low speed, beat until the dry ingredients are nearly completely incorporated into the butter mixture. Stir in the white chocolate chips and rhubarb.

Use a #20 cookie scoop, or portion the batter into 3 tablespoon mounds. Roll into balls and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake only 6 cookies per sheet. These cookies are big! Gently flatten the ball of cookie batter to about 1/2 inch thick. (You can push a few extra white chocolate chips into the tops of the flattened cookie dough if you wish. This step is optional.) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, stir the milk into the confectioner’s sugar until a thin, smooth frosting is formed. Lay the cookies face up onto a wire cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath to catch any dripping glaze. You can use a fork to drizzle the glaze over the cookies, but I like to transfer the glaze to a small Ziploc bag and cut off a little bit of one of the lower corners of the bag. Then, working in a zigzag motion, drizzle the white glaze over the cookies first, followed by the yellow glaze. Once the cookies are glazed, allow them to fully dry before packaging.

WHAT TYPE OF VANILLA PUDDING SHOULD I USE?

Basically, there are two types of boxed vanilla pudding – regular and instant. In most cases, you’ll be hard-pressed to find regular pudding mix anymore, because the world has gone and got itself in a hurry. Don’t worry; the instant works perfectly and that’s what I used in this recipe.

You will need just one box of the dry pudding mix. This is the exact box that I used. I know that vanilla pudding also comes in a fat-free version. You can certainly use that if you prefer.

We are not concerned about the fat or sugar content in the pudding. It’s the flavour that we want to extract and incorporate into the cookies. Any brand of pudding will do just fine. And, if you can’t find the 102-gram size box, get one as close as you can to that. For non-Canadians, 99 grams converts to 3.59 ounces.

STORING, PACKAGING, AND FREEZING

If you plan to freeze these cookies, you certainly can! Once they are completely cooled, pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer-friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. (I use these quite often when freezing baked goods.) I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that cookie freshness locked in!

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. To thaw, lay them out onto a wire cooling rack in a single layer. Once thawed, get a hot coffee and enjoy!

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!