Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for cottage visitors
Cookies, especially chocolate chip ones, are always a winner. But, when they also contain the nutty goodness of oatmeal and you get your hands on them, fresh from the oven so that the chocolate is still warm and melted, they are a treat indeed. A recipe that caught my eye recently on one of my regular wanders around Nic’s bakingsheet blog (her buttermilk pancakes are a regular weekend breakfast favourite) was this one, for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Frog Commissary Cookbook.
I packed my hand mixer for a recent long weekend at the cottage – I was intending to make Barbara‘s Cinnamon Apple Cake with apples from our own tree – and I decided to use it to mix up a batch of these cookies before an old school and college friend called over with her new baby. It looks like the hand mixer may become a permanent part of my cottage-going luggage in the future. Life is really a whole lot easier when you don’t have to cream ingredients by hand! On Friday I cooked half of the dough and the cookies were very popular, especially with a Boyfriend working hard on ridding the half-acre behind the cottage of nettles. The School Friend turned up with a loaf of homemade brown bread so she took home a stack for her own husband in return.
Nic says that these are the kind of cookies that everyone should have in their repertoire and I would agree. The dough is easy to make and happy to sit in the fridge for a few days. I cooked the second half on Monday, and had them out of the oven just before my cousin arrived but make sure you add a few minutes to the cookie baking time if you cooking them direct from the fridge. They have the right amount of chewiness and crispness, decadent chocolate balanced with (slightly) healthy oatmeal. These are the kind of cookies that don’t sit around for long and no one ever manages to stop at one, or even two or, sometimes, three… For my adaptation of the recipe below, I used Muscovado sugar as I love the depth it gives to baked goods and I converted (in a somewhat random way) the American cup measurements to imperial. Perfect cooking for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Butter – 8oz, at room temperature
Muscovado sugar – 10oz
Caster sugar – 10oz
Eggs – 2, large
Milk – 2 tablespoons
Vanilla extract – 2 teaspoons
Plain flour – 10oz
Baking soda – 1 teaspoon
Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
Salt – ½ teaspoon
Rolled porridge oats – 10oz
Chocolate chips – 8oz
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Add to the creamed butter and sugars in three batches, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, gradually beat into the sugar mixture then stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.
Using a teaspoon, drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the lined baking trays, allowing room for the cookies to spread during cooking.
Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the centres are light golden brown and the edges slightly darker in colour. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking trays before transferring to a wire rack. Makes about 5 dozen. Can be stored in an air-tight container – if you have any left!
Adapted from bakingsheet‘s recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Hiya, I had the delight on sunday to visit a Montezuma chocolate shophttp://www.montezumas.co.ukThey are an award-winning English chocolatier and boy do they deserve the awards – I bough a bar of their dark chocolate with orange and geranium. It just knocks the socks off everything else – and I’m a fan of Green and Blacks (and not the cadbury nestle types). I urge you to try. They also do chocolate with chilli and drinking chocolates as well. I think you will like.
Orange and geranium sounds gorgeous. Will definitely have to track down a Montezuma shop next time I’m in London. Just had a quick browse around their website and I love the sound of the Montezuma’s Revenge truffles – a combination of dark chocolate, chilli, lime and tequilla! Unfortunately they don’t do mail order to Ireland…
I’ve got a brand new oven arriving tomorrow. Will these have the honour of the first baking? It’s possible.