Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This cookie recipe is like an old, trusted friend. I have been making these cookies since I was 12 years old...making slight changes, until I achieved oatmeal chocolate chip perfection. These cookies are cozy and simple...they communicate 'home' with a single bite. They are also the most requested thing I make. My boyfriend jokes that these cookies are "one of the things I bring to the table" in our relationship. I frequently bake batches of these to pack up and give away, but always eat a few right when they come out of the oven with a big glass of milk.

Recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
-2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature             
-1/2 c sugar                                                    
-1 c brown sugar, firmly packed                          
-2 eggs                                                          
-2 tsp vanilla extract   
-1 1/2 c all-purpose flour 
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 tsp ground cinnamon
-3 c old-fashioned rolled oats
-1 12oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips    
                                                                     

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Using the paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer, vigorously beat butter and sugar together.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix to incorporate.
4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
5. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, scraping down bowl to ensure everything is incorporated.
6. Using the lowest mixing speed, add in oats and package of chocolate chips.
7. Using a medium-size cookie scoop ( 1 3/4 inch diameter), scoop dough balls onto cookie sheet leaving a 1-inch space in between each cookie.
8. Bake until cookies have slight golden brown edge. Remove baking sheets from oven.
9. Allow cookies to set up on the cookie sheet.
10. Finish cooling on kitchen towel.
11. Enjoy!

Pictures and Tips:

Step 2. Always bake with unsalted butter. This allows you to have complete control over the amount of salt you are adding to a recipe. After about 30 seconds, I turn my mixer speed up to high to really beat the butter and sugar together. When the sugar crystals penetrate the butter, small air pockets are created. These pockets give the cookies a light and airy texture.

Here is what the dough looks like after I have beat the butter and sugar together.

Step 3.  Use good quality vanilla extract. If you are going to pick a baking ingredient to spend extra money on...this should be it. Vanilla adds the background notes that tie a recipe together. When I think of comfort and coziness in a recipe...I think about vanilla. Don't use imitation, it really does make a difference.

Step 4. As I noted in my last post, I always sift the dry ingredients in a baking recipe. It lightens everything up.

Step 5. Incorporate the wet and dry ingredients, make sure to scrape down your bowl. Here is what my dough looks like after the wet and dry have been incorporated. Pictured here is my favorite spatula...can you guess why?

Step 6. Add in the oats and chocolate chips. A whole package of chocolate chips may seem like a lot, but this dough can handle it...and who doesn't love a chocolate chip in every bite?

Here is a picture of what the dough looks like after the addition of the oats and chocolate chips.

Step 7. Using a cookie scoop, place dough balls onto baking sheet. Give the cookies an inch of space, they will spread out a bit when they bake. Cookie scoops are one of my favorite things...they ensure that every cookie is of uniform size, so every cookie gets baked evenly. They also make the process of getting the dough from the bowl to the baking sheet incredibly efficient.

Steps 8 and 9. This is where finesse comes into the process of baking. You want to underbake these cookies in the oven...pull them as soon as they have a light golden brown edge. Leave the cookies on the sheet and let them set up, the residual heat from the baking sheet will continue to bake the cookies. The cookies are ready to be moved when you can twist them on the sheet and they maintain their shape.

I love soft, moist cookies. I follow this method in almost every cookie recipe I make. Remember, cookies (or any baked good) will continue to bake even after you remove them from the oven....so if you wait until they are brown in the oven, you have waited too long.

Step 10. Once the cookies are ready to move, allow them to finish cooling on a kitchen towel. This recipe will yield approximately 36 cookies.. depending on how much dough you sneak while making them :)

Step 11. Enjoy! My favorite way is to eat them fresh out of the oven with a big glass of milk. Pictured here is my Twin Cities Marathon cup...I am currently training for my second marathon. I will be running this one with my dad, to celebrate his 50th birthday. The great thing about running...the more miles you run, the more cookies you can eat. :)

 If you have a recipe that means 'home' to you, I would love to hear about it.

Thanks for visiting.

-The Delicious Dabbler