Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Mmmm...chocolate chip cookies. They're a classic and easy to make, and you should have a good recipe on hand so that you can bake up a batch in a snap. This is that recipe. You don't need any fancy ingredients or exotic extracts. And you don't have to stuff anything--though you could if you really wanted to! This is a very, very simple recipe. (A shock, I know, coming from me!)

The key to this recipe is to use finely ground oatmeal. Nothing--nothing--but oatmeal will give you the the texture or the flavor you look for in a delicious chocolate chip cookie. Trust me. I am the Oatmeal Cookie Guy after all.

I used to bake chocolate chip oatmeal cookies all the time when Jon and I first moved to New York. Back then, I used the famous $250 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe that's made its way around the internet a million times by now. You've probably gotten this recipe in your inbox as well.

My recipe is a simplified version of the Neiman Marcus one. I leave out the nuts, white sugar, and baking powder, and up the vanilla, chocolate chips, and oatmeal. For a variation, though, you can add a cup of chopped nuts or a teaspoon of cinnamon. However you customize them, these will always be bring-in-able. Makes about 4 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.)

Tip: I pop the milk chocolate in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and then I use a (tadah!) vegetable peeler to shave off long, curly strands of chocolate. A hard chunk of chocolate is a whole lot easier to shave than a melty, mooshy one, so always remember to freeze your chocolate a little before you shave, grate, or microplane it.

Tip 2: If you've got the time (and the willpower), let the raw dough rest in the refrigerator for 1 day--no more, no less. Believe me...I tested it!

Creamables	2 sticks butter 2 cups dark brown sugar
Wet Ingredients	2 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 tablespoon milk
Dry Ingredients	3 3/4 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/2 cups flour 4 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, shaved 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
4. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls--about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Comments

[Jonnazz]

The chocolate in the dough (and the oatmeal too) is definitely the secret to this (perfect) chocolate chip cookie recipe.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

That's right, Jonnazz. The shaved milk chocolate in the dough is sweeter than the chips. And the shaved milk chocolate also has a lower melting point than the chips, so there's always an element of melty/gooey chocolate in the finished cookie. And the oatmeal gets rid of that pasty flavor and texture that all-white flour cookies can have.

[runjess]

I was afraid that these would be too sweet, but they are very, very good. The milk chocolate is a nice touch.

However, I am now very full and a bit uncomfortable, therefore a bit angry at you.

Thanks for your recipe. I'm sending these to my dad for his birthday.

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Thanks, Runjess. I hope your dad enjoys these birthday cookies! :-)

[kelly]

i made these this weekend and holy smokes, are they good!

although i wasn't able to shave the chocolate properly... it ended up looking like we finely chopped it. (my boyfriend is the one who tried; i was at the store in a brown sugar freakout.) we were afraid to put the chopped chocolate in the dough, thinking it would be too chocolatey.

next time!
and thanks!!

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Thanks, Kelly! No need to worry about shaving the chocolate. If you had chopped chocolate, chopped chocolate would have been fine. Really...no worries. :-)

[Lorelei Craig]

Hey, my dad loves chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but he likes them large, flat and crispy. Do you know how to do that. I am an avid baker (hobby) but haven't been able to make him the "perfect" cookie, that he gets at this bakery in Oakland, CA.

Thanks,

[margo]

I am also interested in hearing about a flat, crispy cookie. I've been googling like crazy to no avail!!

[Oatmeal Cookie Guy]

Hi, Lorelei and Margo. Here's a link to my Flat, Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe:

http://oatmealcookie.typepad.com/the_oatmeal_cookie_blog/2009/01/flat-crunchy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Enjoy!

[Bev]

For the oatmeal, is the measurement in the form of whole oats or the finely ground? I measured out 3 3/4 old fashioned oatmeal, ground it and now I'm not sure that's the accurate meaning of the ingredient.
Thanks for advising.

[Tom Wallick]

Love your site. I've tried a ton of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes and I really think that the Frog Commissary Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie (http://www.cookhacker.com/2010/12/04/the-best-chocolate-chip-cookies-ever)is far and away the best ever. The dough also freezes extremely well, so when you get the urge, you can just take them out, pop them in the oven and 12 minutes later you have hot homemade cookies...give it a shot!

http://www.cookhacker.com/

[melissa]

what is the milk chocolate?

[Pam]

These are awesome cookies! Prior to adding the chips I split the dough in half and then added butterscotch chips to one half and chocolate chips to the other half. Sent these cookies with my 23 yr old son and 3 of his friends when they left for a road trip. They gobbled them up! Will put this recipe in my "make again" feel!