Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It has been the longest week ever and it's only Monday.

Oy. 

But that's why cookies like these exist, so I will allow it. I actually saw an article last week that featured these cookies - apparently Taylor Swift's fave, and I'm actively trying my best to turn into Taylor Swift, so I gave them a whirl. Besides, I'm always on the search for the purrrr-fect (such a Swifty pun to make, non?) chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

I've come close, but I think it's still out there somewhere, like the Moby Dick of my life. 

These cookies are up there - there's something I respect about a recipe that doesn't hold back. We've got oats, cinnamon, chocolate, and walnuts in the hoooouse.

The recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies, so I definitely recommend freezing some dough for emergencies (and really long Mondays). 

You Will Need:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon*

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar - light or dark

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup walnuts (optional)

coarse sea salt (for topping)

*I love cinnamon, so I doubled it. The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon, but cinnamon don't scare me! Honestly, I could probably even go for a pinch more.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, kosher salt, rolled oats, and cinnamon. 

In a mixer, combine butter and sugars. Beat until light and fluffy with a paddle attachment. Add in vanilla, then eggs one at a time until well combined.

Using a spatula, gradually add flour mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in chocolate and walnuts.

Spoon tablespoon-sized balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until just beginning to color around the edges. 

Remove from oven and sprinkle coarse sea salt on top immediately.

And I also like my cookies a nice medium rare, so I pulled them out at 12 minutes - slightly browned on the edges or not! There's nothing like that thin layer of crisp and nearly-raw cookie in the center. I'm salivating just thinking about it. 

I also love my chocolate CHUNK-y, so I leave the chunks pretty big. Some would call it lazy, but I believe the correct culinary term for it would be "rustic." Either way, it's less work and I think it makes for a more appealing cookie-look. But it's a free country, so chop all those walnuts and chocolate as teeny-tiny as you want to. 

If you like an even finer texture, I'm sure you could pulse the oats and chocolate through a food processor - but in my mind, that's another dish that needs washing and the food processor is probably my least favorite thing to wash in the entire kitchen-universe. Don't even get me started. All the PIECES.

If you do decide to freeze some of the dough, I put mine in ziplock bags, then write the baking instructions so I don't have to look up the recipe each time - 350 for 12-13 minutes. Pull the dough out of the freezer the night or a few hours before you want them and thaw in the fridge before baking. 

Best wishes for a wonderful week y'all!