Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Picture by sarahlynnhill.com

Are you aware that National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week is March 14-20? Thank goodness the food holiday designators chose an entire week to celebrate because just one day is absolutely not enough. Right now my freezer is stocked full of chocolate chip cookie dough. I have a double batch of the classic Strobel Cookie with half dark chocolate chips and half Dove milk chocolate, preferred by Strobel men for chocolate chip cookie dough pudding, or just eating naked, as in straight-from-the-freezer-no-baking-or-microwaving involved. If you dig a little deeper you will find a ziploc bag full of little dough balls waiting to be baked into Tate's thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. Alongside those you will find my personal batch - classic Strobel cookie dough with Guittard semi-sweet chocolate super disks and toasted walnuts (no milk chocolate allowed). We like to cater to all tastes and palates at this house! 

If you are thinking there is no need for another variety, I would like to gently suggest that you are so so wrong. Let me introduce you to The King Arthur Flour Company's 2015 recipe of the year - the Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie. These are soft and chewy inside and deliciously crispy on the outside, as good cold as they are warm. I don't share chocolate chip cookie recipes recklessly. Trust me with this one.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

From King Arthur Flour

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup ( 7 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt
3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

With an electric or stand mixer, beat together the softened butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and egg yolk one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, oatmeal, baking powder and soda, and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Prepare the dough for baking (or freezing) by scooping into balls. Any size will work! We prefer a larger cookie, about 1/4 cup dough each, but even tiny little scoops of about 2 teaspoons each will make a respectable cookie. Make sure to leave plenty of room between balls for spreading. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size, until they are very light golden brown with the edges slightly darker than the middle. Let the cookies rest for a minute or two on the cookie sheet then transfer to racks to cool

Yield: 20 to 100 cookies, depending on size.

Notes on the Recipe:

I prefer quick cooking oatmeal for these cookies because I think it makes for a better texture, but suit yourself, just don't use instant oatmeal.