Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

How to Make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here are some bonus tips and tricks for ensuring your oatmeal cookies come out perfectly soft, chewy, and beautiful. The full recipe is just below.

Ingredients you’ll need for these cookies:

• Flour: All-purpose flour is used in this recipe. Be sure to measure your flour properly with a kitchen scale!
• Salt: Helps to balance out the sweetness.
• Leavening: Both baking soda and baking powder are used to help lift the cookies for this recipe.
• Cinnamon: A dash of cinnamon gives these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies the BEST flavor.
• Butter: Make sure to use unsalted, room temperature butter. More on this in the next tip.
• Sugar: This recipe calls for both granulated and dark brown sugar. I love to use dark brown sugar in this particular recipe because the rich butterscotch flavor it lends complements the nutty oats beautifully. But also, dark brown sugar is made with more molasses which adds more moisture to this dough and helps keep the cookies softer for longer once they’re baked. You can use light brown sugar if you need to, but definitely consider giving dark brown a try! If you make this recipe without brown sugar, they won’t be as soft, chewy, or flavorful. P.S. if you have granulated white sugar and molasses, you can make brown sugar yourself!
• Eggs: You’ll see this recipe calls for two large eggs plus one egg yolk. Again, that egg yolk lends moisture and richness, helping to make these cookies both softer yet chewier.
• Vanilla Extract: Adds delicious flavor.
• Oats: I like to use old-fashioned rolled oats in my oatmeal cookie recipes.
• Chocolate Chips: Obviously! But you can use raisins if you MUST.

What kind of oats are best for oatmeal cookies?

You can use old-fashioned or quick cooking oats in this recipe. Quick cooking oats are smaller in size and will provide a more uniform texture, whereas old fashioned oats will provide a more craggy, rough texture. Oats tend to zap moisture in any recipe, which is why simply adding them into your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe typically won’t work.

Overview of how to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
2. Beat together the wet ingredients. Using a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together. Then, add the eggs and vanilla and beat again.
3. Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Try not to overmix!
4. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
5. Scoop out cookie dough balls and flatten slightly.
6. Bake and enjoy! Bake until the edges are slightly browned, rotating baking sheets halfway through.

Why are my cookies flat?

Butter temperature is KEY!

Be sure to use unsalted butter that’s at a cool room temperature, 67°F to be exact. Butter that’s too warm may cause the cookies to spread and flatten while baking. In general, the cooler the dough is when it enters the oven the thicker your cookies will be. If you want thicker cookies, try popping the balls of dough in the freezer while your oven preheats.

Just take a look at the impact butter temperature can have on how much a cookie spreads:

Click here to learn why I only use unsalted butter when baking.

How to make beautiful cookies:

1. Use a large spring-loaded cookie scoop to portion out perfectly even and round balls of dough. Then, roll them between your palms to smooth out then flatten slightly so they spread evenly.
2. Dot the balls of scooped out dough with a few chocolate chips on top.
3. Bake on a heavy duty unlined aluminum half sheet pan for golden brown cookies. Learn more about the importance of baking pans when it comes to cookies here!

Should oatmeal cookie dough be chilled before baking?

This dough will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Do not refrigerate over 48 hours as oats are a drying ingredient and really soak up moisture. Your dough can dry up too quickly! Remove from the fridge and allow the dough to return to room temperature before scooping and baking.

How to make oatmeal cookies ahead of time:

You can freeze just about any drop cookie recipe as well! Freeze pre portioned balls of dough in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks. Learn more about freezing and baking frozen cookie dough here.