I find it pretty telling that on a blog where I talk about the importance of family dinners, these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my very first posted recipe. It’s not that I don’t have plenty of other recipes to share, it’s just that of all the recipes in all the world, this is my very favorite. For me, these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies remind me of home and family and goodness all wrapped into one.
If you’ve been to my house for any period of time or if you’ve had a baby or needed some cheering up, or if you’ve had an event where we were supposed to bring something to share, there is a good chance you’ve had these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It’s one of the few recipes I have completely memorized and I always keep the ingredients on hand.
How I found out these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are truly irresistible
One of my favorite stories about these oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes is when this little lady was around two. I was baking and she had a chair up next to the cooling cookies. I told her she wasn’t allowed to eat the cookies and naively assumed she would be obedient. I thought that she would actually have the self-control to not eat these irresistible warm oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as they came out of the oven and I set them on the counter to cool. I snapped this cute picture and asked if he she was eating the cookies, to which of course, she said, “No.” After she went down for a nap, I went to put away the cookies. As I gathered them up, I noticed there was a singular teeny tiny bite out of some the cookies – not one or two of the cookies, but probably a dozen or more. She apparently couldn’t help herself when there was such an array of goodness laid out before her so decided to sample a cookie and then moved on to the next cookie, and the next until she was satisfied.
Why these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies remind me of growing up
These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies also remind me of growing up. One of my favorite memories as a girl is getting off the school bus on a cold afternoon or driving home from high school and walking into the door to the intoxicating smell of these cookies wafting from the kitchen through the whole house. My mom would have hot cocoa on the stove, warm cookies waiting and she’d be there in the kitchen. That simple act made me know I was loved and wanted and worth her time. It was an intentional act to make our home a warm, welcoming place on a cold day. As I would sit down to eat an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (or three) and sip my hot cocoa, I would share about my day and she would listen. In my memories, this happened often but in reality, I’m sure it was only a few times. But those few times made a difference and an impression on me.
So, what are you waiting for?
Grab the ingredients and a family member or two and head to the kitchen! These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are great for an everyday dessert, to take to a shindig, or deliver to a friend who needs some love in the form of sweet goodness.
Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened No cheating, you've gotta have real butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp real vanilla
- 2.5 cups quick oats
- 1.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugars in a large bowl or electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add the eggs and mix well. If you're a purist, you add the eggs one at a time and mix after each one, but I'm not. I always just dump them all in and then mix it up until it's well blended.Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to bowl. I try to lightly mix in the baking soda and powder into the flour a bit before I mix them in but again, it's not a tragedy if this doesn't happen. And again, if you're a purist, mix the dry ingredients in a different bowl and then add them but that requires more work and more dirty dishes, so you have my permission to not do that. Add vanilla.Add oats and chocolate chips and mix until well blended. I don't love to overload my cookies with chocolate chips because I love the actual cookie part of these cookies so much. But if you can tell 1 1/2 cups isn't going to be enough chocolate chips for you, add another 1/2-1 cup.Form into smallish balls (around 2 Tablespoons) and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes on large cookie sheet or make into larger cookies and bake a couple minutes longer. The cookies should just begin to be browning on top when done. If your butter is too soft, these cookies will end up flat. If you don't like that, put the formed cookie dough balls into the fridge for 5-8 minutes before baking them.
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