Ruth Reichl's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {One Of The Best Oatmeal Cookies Out There}

I am a self confessed cookie lover and oatmeal cookies are right at the top of the list. 

I love plain oatmeal cookies, oatmeal raisin, oatmeal chocolate chip, oatmeal trail mix, and ice oatmeal cookies. You get the picture. I haven't met an oatmeal cookie I haven't liked.

The oatmeal gives the cookie some heft and chew. It makes the cookie more substantial. It makes it mor healthy, right?

Yes, oatmeal cookies are healthy. And, since oatmeal is breakfast food, we can eat oatmeal cookies for breakfast, right?

Now there are many different types of oatmeal cookies, but Ruth Reichl's recipe from The Gourmet Cookbook is heavy on the oatmeal. In fact it was a little difficult to get the dough to come together and I found that I had to mix the dough more than I usually would. 

Ruth said I could add chocolate chips, but I wanted to add chocolate chunks so I cut up a 4 ounce bar of semisweet chocolate. This was just the right amount of chocolate for a chocolate lover. If you want just a little bit of chocolate, use less.

Believe it or not, I am rather impatient and can't be bothered to stand in front of a stove turning out batches upon batches of cookies until I make 2 dozen. Instead, I got a 1/4 cup measure and made 12 big cookies in two batches. I baked them 6 minutes on the bottom rack and then 6 minutes on the top rack, and let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes.

If you love oatmeal cookies, these are total perfection! And I mean that. We inhaled them. They are literally the best! They are my new go-to oatmeal cookie recipes! In fact, I'm going to try making them again with the gluten free flour for my son! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

by Ruth Reichl

Makes about 2 dozen

1-3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon*

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) butter, softened

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips and or chocolate cut from a bar

*NOTE: I omitted the cinnamon since I added the chocolate!

Put racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375F. Butter two large baking sheets. 

Stir together oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add oat mixture and chocolate and beat until just combined.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto buttered baking sheets and flatten mounds slightly with moistened fingers. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 12 minutes total. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

 Spring Is In The Air @ IHCC