Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough March 19, 2022 from Together as a Family

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick-cooking oats (I used old-fashioned rolled oats)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add in the egg yolk, egg and vanilla extract, beating just until combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture in 2 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl to keep mixture even textured. Add in chocolate chips and stir just until incorporated.
3. Chill dough, covered, for 30 minutes.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-sized dough balls (or smaller if you prefer) and evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass to make thick discs. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are pale golden brown and middles look just barely not raw. Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

I'm alternating between being weighed down by all that's going on in the world (still thinking of Ukraine) and the swirl going on in my own life with trying to forge ahead with even small acts of kindness or positivity. The quote above really spoke to me in how to reframe my thinking. Instead of thinking something is tone-deaf because you want to talk about (or eat) cookies rather than the very bad, big, terrible, no-good things happening, I'm shifting my perspective to think of those cookie-things as what fuels my activism and caring to deal with those very bad, big, terrible, no-good things happening. Someone made a kind comment in my last post that my posts help brighten their day. I appreciate that feedback and it helps keep me on an even keel; if I can create a bright spot even for one moment for one person, then all isn't lost and I can help provide a little bit of that fuel to move us all to a better world. So onward with this cookie post. 

I think of oatmeal cookies as having more oats than flour so this technically wouldn't qualify other than as a chocolate chip cookie with oats in it. But I don't see the point of getting uptight about it when this is a pretty good cookie.

The brown sugar caramelizes nicely to give it a good flavor and the oats make it chewy but not dry. Or at least they won't be dry if you don't overbake it. I like to bake until the edges are golden brown but you can still see some moisture in the middle. When the cookies cool, they have a good chewy texture that's moist. The original recipe called for quick cooking oats as those are more processed/in bits. I used old-fashioned but I let the dough chill in the refrigerator to give the oats and the flour more time to absorb the moisture in the dough. Then I portioned into dough balls, froze and baked from frozen dough. It worked pretty well and hopefully these will survive the journey overseas in military care packages.