Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

When I got home from work this afternoon it was cold and rainy. Perfect cookie weather! I decided to make a double batch and then skip dinner.

I got down my cookbook and selected the Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe. Oh yeah! (This is another AllRecipes find.)

I took four sticks of margarine and softened them, still in their paper wrappers, for 20 seconds in the microwave. I don't know if this is a good, safe idea or not (in other words, don't blame me if your apartment burns down) but it worked for me today.

Then I added the sugar and brown sugar.

Things were going well and I was sure the house was going to smell wonderful when my husband got home. I grabbed four eggs out of the fridge and got crackin'.

But then Bryan got home before I was expecting him. And I got surprised and dropped the egg I had been cracking into the batter. Oops!

Please note, this step is optional.

Before I knew it I was scooping dough onto my baking trays.

Thinking maybe I should have dinner after all, I filled two cookie dough containers with extra dough. I put one in the freezer, and one in the fridge. So we will have fresh, hot cookies whenever we want for some time. Watch out hips... here it comes!

Here are my cookies just after taking them out of the oven. Now, I know what you're thinking, "They're not done! Put those poor anemic cookies back into your oven."

But let me explain: The recipe says to leave them there for five minutes before removing them to the cooling racks. And I'm not certain, but I think this is what makes them so chewy and texturally pleasing. They do not turn out a lovely brown color, but the bottoms don't burn either, and that's a plus, right?

Can't wait to bake up a double batch of these yourself? Here is the recipe exactly as I followed it this afternoon (with the optional dropping the egg into the batter step excluded):

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups butter (or margarine), softened
  • 2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Stir in the quick oats, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
  3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!

5 comments:

Yvo Sin said...

Hey Mer, two questions, you know I'm not a baker but... I do like oatmeal cookies and always wanted to make them. The ingredient that always stumps me is the oats/oatmeal part. Sometimes it says steel cut.. sometimes... quick cooking oats... well, what is that? (I don't eat oatmeal, which actually, I also mentioned recently on my blog, haha) Like, can you give examples of each with brand names? I'd REALLY appreciate it (then I can buy it and give it to my sister so SHE can make cookies - she bakes far more than she cooks). Thanks!!!
2nd question, chocolate isn't dairy?

Mer said...

Yvo,

I used "Quick - 1 Minute" Quaker Oats. When I use steel cut oats for breakfast, I buy them out of the bulk bin at Winco - so I don't have a brand name for that.

Yes, milk chocolate is dairy. White chocolate is dairy. Hershey's brand dark chocolate is even dairy. But semi-sweet chocolate chips do not contain milk. Neither does good, dark chocolate.

Great questions! Thanks for reading. :0)

Yvo Sin said...

Thanks for the clarification! I knew that white chocolate wasn't chocolate, and that there's not supposed to be milk in dark chocolate, but I didn't know that Hershey's dark chocolate has dairy in it! Interesting stuff. Good stuff too - the funny thing is, the day I asked these questions, I went home and found a container of oatmeal cookies on the table! Apparently my brother in law made them and they were good (chewy, and enough chocolate to make them taste decadent but not enough to actually make them bad for me), so I called my sister to ask what recipe he used and she goes, "the one on the side of the oatmeal box." HAHA. But he added coconut and chocolate chips, which aren't in the recipe... and I'm allergic to coconut, doh! He said htat's what keeps them chewy/moist though... darn it!

Deeba PAB said...

YUM YUM Mer...I love them chewy too. The ones I made were crisp coz the kids like 'em that way! I love the optional egg falling step!! HA HA!! Great post!!

Dawn0fTime said...

Very entertaining post! Your bread looks beautiful. The photo of the slices really illustrates the perfect texture you achieved!