Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
It's a super easy, one-bowl recipe for old-fashioned oatmeal chip cookies that comes together quickly. You can have freshly baked cookies in 30 minutes or freeze the cookie dough for later.
Servings 30 regular cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups traditional rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons whole milk at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
- extra chocolate chips for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- Beat ¾ cup unsalted butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth, about 20 seconds. Gradually add ¾ cup light brown sugar and ¾ cup white sugar and beat for 2 minutes, until creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add 1 egg and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times. Add 3 tablespoons whole milk and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the sifted 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt to the butter mixture. Mix at low speed just until well blended and no dry spots remain. Don't overbeat at this point.
- Stir in 3 cups traditional rolled oats in two parts so they're easier to incorporate.
- Add 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips and mix well. I use a rubber or silicon spatula for this part. Make sure no flour remains in the bottom of the bowl. At this point, the cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to a day. See note below.
- Scoop out portions onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them, an inch or two, depending on the size of the cookie. Add a few extra chocolate chips to each cookie dough ball if you want to. Flatten them slightly with my fingertips so they bake faster with soft centers. This is important if making larger cookies so there's less chance of the center taking too long to bake while the edges brown too quickly. If you're unsure if you want to flatten them or not, do a test bake with two dough balls, leaving one whole and flattening the other, and see which one you like best.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size, until golden brown and still soft in the center. I use a 1.5-inch cookie scoop and bake them for exactly 10 minutes.
- Smack the pan on the counter immediately after you take it out of the oven. It will deflate the cookies a little and help with the texture.
- Sprinkle them immediately with extra chocolate chips and finely chopped walnuts if desired.
- Let them cool on a wire rack before lifting them carefully from the paper and cooling them completely. Once they cool down completely, transfer cookies to jars or an airtight container.
Notes
Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. Use a thermometer inside the oven to check that the temperature is right. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
Measuring the cookies: Use an ice cream or cookie scoop so that you're cookies bake evenly. Leave roughly a 1 or 2-inch separation between each (depending on the size), so they can spread comfortably during baking.
Refrigerating the dough: I don't chill it, bake the cookies directly, and the texture is fantastic. But the type of oats you use might differ from mine as they can vary depending on what part of the world you live in and what brand you buy. You should not have issues using quick-cooking oats because it hydrates quickly. With rolled oats, I recommend you test-bake a few cookies first and see how they come out.
Should you slightly flatten the tops before baking? If making them right away, it's not necessary. If refrigerating the dough for several hours or days, and you like soft chewy cookies, I recommend it because it will be firmer and drier (the oats will have absorbed more liquid), so they might not expand well and take too long to fully bake.
Batching and freezing: Make a large batch (double this recipe, for example) and freeze them. This will save you time and ensure that you always have freshly baked oatmeal cookies.
Flavorings: To boost the flavor of these cookies, add ground nutmeg, orange zest, or a tablespoon of Frangelico or some other nut liqueur. If you like a sweeter cookie, substitute half of the dark chocolate chips for milk or white chocolate chips. Use dark brown sugar for soft cookies with a hint of molasses.
