Oatmeal & Company’s lemon lavender cookies are this summer’s designated treat.
By Jennifer Xia, Photo courtesy of Oatmeal & Company.
Darian Washington is everything. The headmaker. Accountant. Bagger. Delivery girl. Although Oatmeal & Company is her first venture running her own business, Washington comes from a lineage of entrepreneurs. As much as she grew up learning the taste of hard work and persistence, food was at the core of how her family showed affection. Every Saturday morning, her grandfather would cook a large meal for the entire family, a tradition that instilled in her that to nourish was to love.
Washington continues that tradition with her son, Derrick, an avid lover of oatmeal with an equally ambitious entrepreneurial spirit at age 13. After raiding the free samples in the merchandising department of the Whole Foods Market Global Offices where she used to work, Washington brought home a jar of overnight oats one Friday night. Unimpressed, her son decided they should make their own instead. With a few spices and dried fruit they had on hand, she and her son assembled the first of many jars of overnight oats.
“It’s been an amazing experience doing this together,” Washington says. “This is not just my journey. It’s his journey as well.” Before they started selling their oatmeal, Washington’s coworkers would leave empty pasta jars with money or filled with cookies or candy on her desk. They would become the people she tested her creative flavors out on in the beginning stages. From smoked peach bourbon and blueberry cardamom to bananas foster inspired by her sister’s trip to New Orleans, Washington’s bold flavors stand out against the blandness of regular oats.
Although this is the first time Washington has ever been self-employed, she has never questioned whether she could be successful. “If I fail today, I wake up tomorrow and there’s my fighting chance once again,” Washington says. In moments of fear, she goes to the big mirror in her bedroom and gives herself her “bad bitch pep talk.” She pictures two versions of herself, with the strong one speaking to the part of her that is afraid. Turn your sour lemons into something sweet this summer with Washington’s Lemon Lavender Oatmeal Cookies using her very own oatmeal.
LEMON LAVENDER OATMEAL COOKIES WITH HONEY GLAZE
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tbsp lavender extract
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 bag of Lemon Lavender Oatmeal
1 ¼cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
Honey Glaze
½ cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp honey
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk
1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until combined.
3. Add the eggs, lavender extract and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and combined.
4. Stir in the lemon lavender oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until the dough comes together.
5. Using your hands, roll the dough into 1/2” balls. Arrange on the prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart and then flatten them slightly with your hand.
6. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until set and lightly golden around the edges.
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool off completely.
8. To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, honey, vanilla, milk and melted butter in a small bowl.
9. Drizzle the glaze on the cookies and enjoy!