Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe at a glance:

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
3 cups of oats
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
2 cups chocolate chips
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: about 30 minutes. My cookie sheet held about half the recipe and it takes about 15 minutes for cookies to be done. For all cookies to be done, it took about a half hour. Add an extra 1-2 hours for waiting for the butter and egg to come to room temperature.
Utensil/bowl use: Intermediate – mixing bowl, mixer, measuring cups/spoons, cookie sheet, cooling rack (if desired)
Difficulty: Easy
Serve for: whenever you please, this recipe makes a ton of little cookies that aren’t overly sweet

Raisins are heinous and I wish I could say that you wouldn’t be able to find any in my pantry. In fact, I usually can’t find anything in my pantry when I want it but I can always tell you where the raisins are. They are only there because I have a very good friend that loves them and loves oatmeal raisin cookies even more. So on his birthday, I made some him oatmeal raisin cookies. And I tried only one.

From then on, I decided that my world would be better off without raisins and found a fabulous recipe that replaces the traditional raisin for chocolate chips. I have also found an amazing recipe for raisin-less bread pudding that I will share the next time I come across a reason to chop up a sourdough round. Additionally, my world is a better place with raisin-less chicken empanadas. I feel like each of these recipes are made better by the absence of a particular ingredient and I can always get behind a less-is-more sort of approach to food.

These cookies are great and can stand on their own without my anti-raisinist attitude. I made them for a game night with friends and the whole batch was gone in an hour. This recipe makes small, golf-ball sized cookies that are only mildly sweet. The brown sugar really lets the oatmeal and chocolate chips be front and center.

First, and foremost, take your butter and egg and remove them from the fridge about 1-2 hours before you begin cooking. Creaming butter only works when the butter is soft and that only works well when it is at room temperature. Butter can be softened in the microwave but you don’t want to melt it. I almost always forget to do this and have adopted the habit of taking the butter out of the fridge well before I begin cooking.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Next, gather your ingredients. I used extra thick rolled oats, but I am sure any type of oats will do based on your preference. There isn’t enough liquid in this recipe to make quick cooking oats soften. Steel cut oats will make for a chewier, heartier cookie but will also probably require a bit of extra cook time.

Add the brown sugar to the butter in a medium or large mixing bowl. A good tip to keep brown sugar moist in the pantry is to add a few marshmallows to the bag. Sadly, I have no good tips on how to un-brick brown sugar.

Crack open the egg.

Cream these three ingredients. I used a hand mixer on low to cream.

Add the oatmeal to the creamed mixture.

And the flour

The semi-sweet morsels

1/2 tsp baking soda

and a teaspoon of salt

And my favorite part is saved for for last, the vanilla.

Take a few minutes to mix these all together. The batter will look rather dry.

And will look like this when fully mixed.

Form teaspoon-sized balls of batter and place them about an inch and a half apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. I found that forming the batter into little balls in the palm of my hand worked really well. I put pressure on the balls in order to make sure they had an even shape. This step isn’t necessary though.

Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes. They will turn a slightly deeper shade of brown when done. Let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter. You should finish with about 4 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Homesick Texan)

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
3 cups of oats
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
2 cups chocolate chips
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Remove butter and egg from the fridge and give them 1-2 hours to warm to room temperature. When they have warmed to room temperature, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream butter, sugar, and egg. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and stir until ingredients are well incorporated. Form batter into 1 teaspoon sized balls and place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes in preheated 350 degree oven.