Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I’m being a bit naughty and giving you all a sugary treat today! I’m posting a new cookie recipe that has been happily tested on at least 40 kids and adults, ranging in age from 6 to 44 (yes, you guessed it, I’m the 44-year-old)!  These cookies got the double thumbs up, and there were even some kids that gave me the feet thumbs up as well! Crazy kids! These cookies are chock-full of flavor from the cinnamon, allspice and the turbinado sugar. The turbinado sugar helps gives the cookies a nice crunchy texture. You can also tastes bits of salt in each cookie bite, and those bittersweet chocolate chips, wow, they just make anything better in my opinion. Give me a cookie with some oats, sugar, butter and chocolate, and I’m a happy gal.

It dawned on me last week that I haven’t posted a cookie or cake recipe in over a year! GASP!  You see, I’m a total sweet tooth,  (like gotta have a dessert or two every day) and I know I have a lot of readers who have a sweet tooth, so I thought it was pretty lame that there haven’t been any new dessert posts on the Marin mama cooks blog, so I decided to do something about it, and that was to bake up some cookies for you and for me….

I already have 2 amazing chocolate chip cookie recipes on the blog, so I thought I would try my hands at something a bit different, like oatmeal raisin cookies. I made a batch of those, and they were amazing, but I knew my kids were not going to be satisfied with raisins in their cookies. Raisins in cookies are just lame to my kiddos! My kids need and crave a cookie with some chocolate in it.  Hey, it’s all about making the kids happy right?

So I did a test, or I guess you could say a brief survey before posting these cookies. I went to Eli’s baseball game and had an equal amount of oatmeal raisin cookies and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I offered the kids a choice of either oatmeal raisin or oatmeal chocolate chip, and which cookie do you think they went for?  Yes, you guessed it, the oatmeal chocolate chip!

But, hey, I’m not dissing the oatmeal raisin cookie version, because I happen to love raisins in my cookies, and I also have a very special friend who loves the oatmeal raisin version. He’s actually the one that referred this recipe to me, (it’s his all-time fave) so I will gladly make these cookies for him anytime!

So, I’m giving you all a choice!  You can either make up these cookies with chocolate chips or raisins, or hey, be crazy and make these with a combination of both. Be creative, have fun and get baking!

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies:

recipe from Savory Sweet Life
Makes 16 cookies

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup turbinado (raw) sugar – see my photo below – Turbinado sugar adds a bit more flavor and a crunchy texture to the cookies
• 1 large egg or extra-large egg, at room temperature – I used an extra-large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 – 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats, also called rolled oats – do not use quick or instant oats!
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (you can substitute the chocolate chips for raisins if you like the classic oatmeal raisin cookies) – I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

Below is a photo of what Turbinado sugar looks like, for those of you that are not familiar!  Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Turbinado Raw Cane Sugar, 24 ozTurbinado sugar looks a bit like brown sugar and has larger crystals than normal white granulated sugar.  It has a subtle molasses flavor to it and adds a great crunchy texture to cookies, that you just can’t get with white granulated sugar. This sugar is also ideal for vegans as there are no chemicals, bone char, or animal by-products used to make or de-colorize this sugar. Why not give it a try!

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust the oven rack (or racks if you have 2 ovens) to the middle position.

Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Get out your standing mixer and insert your paddle attachment!

Add to the mixing bowl, the stick of butter and the 1 cup sugar. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to high for up to 2 to 2-1/2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  By the way, if you don’t have a standing mixture, then you can use a hand-held mixer.

Note: Creaming the butter and sugar serves two main purposes. First, it allows the sugar to be well dispersed throughout the batter and “dissolve” into the butter. Second, by beating together the ingredients until fluffy, it incorporates more air into the batter, making your cookies lighter in texture.

Add in the egg and the 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Mix the ingredients on medium speed until well combined.

Now it’s time to toss in all the other goodies!  Add in the following:

1 – 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or rasins
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice

Be careful when turning on your mixer here, you don’t want the flour, baking soda or powder to fly out and all over your counter (I say that because it’s happened to me). I would start slowly and then increase the speed to medium  until the ingredients are well combined. I pulled out the bowl and used my spatula after to make sure that everything was mixed together well.

The picture below shows the batter mixed with raisins. I had forgotten to get a photo of the batter with the chocolate chips, but it looks the same! 

Refrigerate the batter for 15 minutes or so. This step helps to firm up the cookie batter a bit, as well as gives you time to clean up the kitchen!

Divide the dough into 8 portions per cookie sheet, and space them out approximately 2 inches apart. I use my handy-dandy ice-cream scooper here.
The ice cream scooper I used is 1 3/4″.   You will have 8 dough balls per sheet.

Don’t the cookies look like they’re all lined up ready to go on a mission? Well, cookies, your mission is to be baked up in the oven and then devoured, sorry!

Bake the cookies 1 tray at a time (or both trays if you have a double oven) until the cookies are golden brown along the edges, but still puffy and a bit soft in the center, 11 to 12 minutes.

In my oven the total cooking time is about 12 minutes.

Note: They may look under baked in the center but don’t fret, they will brown and firm up once they are out of the oven.

Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet until they set.

Transfer them to a wire rack to cool. See the salt crystals on the below cookie?  YUM!

The cookies will flatten down a bit as they cool.

Come on.. take a bite and sink your teeth into these bad boys and don’t feel bad if you have more than 1 cookie, I certainly did!  

We always have a cookie when they are still warm and the chocolate chips are gooey! Pair it up with a tall glass of milk and you have the perfect dessert or snack!