There are hundreds of oatmeal cookie variations, but this recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies is my favorite. The measurements are easy to memorize, so over the years I've done just that and can now make them without looking at the recipe.
Easy to Memorize
If baking by weight, the measurements are not quite as easy to memorize, but by volume you've got 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar and 3 cups flour. For the leavening agents, it's 1 teaspoon each of baking powder, baking soda and salt. And then the 2 eggs and 1 ½ cups oatmeal. You can change the ratios of the base dough using the measurements above as a jumping off point. And the add-ins are easy to change to make variations.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Variations
The recipe calls for a mix of chocolate chunks, dried cherries and toasted pecans, but it's totally flexible. I sometimes use chopped up Heath bars in place of the cherries, leaving out the dried fruit completely. And of course the nuts can be changed as well.
Recipe
Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter 228 grams, salted or unsalted
- 1 cup light brown sugar 190 grams
- 1 cup white sugar 190 grams
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 360 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt increase to 1 ½ teaspoons if using unsalted
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats 140 grams
- 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
- 1 cup chopped pecans toasted
- ½ cup dried cherries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment or have ready some non-stick cookie sheets.
- In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the rolled oats, chocolate, pecans and dried cherries. Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets. Alternatively, drop the dough onto plates lined with plastic wrap, then wrap the portioned dough and freeze until ready to use.
- Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets and let cool on wire racks.
Michelle says
My husband and I made these last night and they were PERFECT!! Perfect tablespoon size, perfect chewy texture, and just yummy yummy! I added toasted coconut instead of the cherries, since I didn't have any cherries on hand. This is going in my stand-by cookie recipes! Thanks Anna. I have quite a list of cookies from your site I will be trying!!
Anna says
Hi Claire,
I'll check your blog for a review!
Claire says
I'm making these tonight...they're in the fridge right now! It looks GREAT and I hope it turns out. I did tablespoon sized cookies rather than big ones, but will let you know how it goes.
Tracy says
Anna,
What a great site! I 1st saw you on the Food Network and headed here afterwards. I never knew there were so many women who still liked to bake. I love it and do ofetn, though not everyday.
Pat says
Good morning! My youngest son begged me not to take the cookies to work...that tells you how well he likes them! 🙂 I did bring two in to a friend to try. She and I do a lot of recipe testing, tasting, and swapping. She just appeared at my desk and said, "OK...those were wonderful! I want that recipe!" One of the things I really liked was having the dough all rolled into balls when I stuck them in the refrigerator. When it came time to bake them, all the work was done...just had to plop them on the pan and put them in the oven! Next time I mix up a batch I'm going to add the nuts and share them with my mom and sister. Thanks again Anna for a great recipe!
Anna says
tg, I'm glad to hear chefs reuse their parchment paper too.
Pat, comment away! And I'd be interested to hear how your coworkers like the cookies. I'm going to put some parenthesis in the amount of chocolate so that it will be clear.
Pat says
Should have also mentioned that I used my Target brand silpat clone. It worked very well.
Pat says
OK...hope you're not all getting tired of me here! I made these cookies this evening to take to work tomorrow. I omitted the nuts because I work with lots of people who don't like nuts. Right there, that changes the whole cookie to me...I love nuts! Anyway, I also made them half the size you did Anna. I've never made a cookie that stayed so high! And they taste very good! Unfortunately, when I printed the recipe and got to the grocery store, I couldn't decide if it said 16 oz choc, or 1 6-oz choc. I bought a bag of choc chunks and used a little over half. I had doubled the cookie recipe, and I thought half of the bag was enough. I was wrong...should have used the whole bag. Live and learn! I didn't mean to butcher your recipe Anna...even with all my changes it is still a very good cookie! Thanks for sharing!
tg says
parchment paper can be used as many times as you want. I've seen pastry chefs re-use the same sheet until it's charred. it ain't all that fussy. the point is to provide a surface between the cookie and the pan. throwing out the paper after every batch could be seen as rather wasteful; it can definitely be recycled
Jen says
Oops! Sorry for posting the wrong site - it's been one of those days. Thanks for correcting it, Anna.
Pat says
Thanks for the comments on the parchment paper. So, can I assume that it's meant to be changed between each batch of dough that you put in the oven? Just trying to get myself clear on this. I don't own an official silpat, but I do have a couple of clones from Target that work well. I just had never purchased parchment before and decided to buy a roll to try out.
Pat says
Thanks for the comments on the parchment paper. So, can I assume that it's meant to be changed between each batch of dough that you put in the oven? Just trying to get myself clear on this. I don't own an official silpat, but I do have a couple of clones from Target that work well. I just had never purchased parchment before and decided to buy a roll to try out.
Anna says
Hola Janice,
The bread flour makes the cookies more tender. You can make them with all-purpose, though. I stole the bread flour idea from Alton Brown.
Carole, you always have such cool shopping links. Thanks for the tip! I may buy parchment over the Internet. But like I said, I get a lot of use from my Silpats.
Carole, here's the link to Surfas
https://www.surfasonline.com/company/index.cfm
I'd never even heard of them until Jen pointed them out. What a cool sight.
carole says
could you please check http://www.surfas.com this site has nothing to do with parchment paper.
Jen says
http://www.surfas.com sells packs of 100 precut parchment sheets for a fabulous price!
Anna, this is one of my favorite cookie recipes, although I don't recall the toasting the oats step in the version of the recipe I have. I'll try that next time.
Janice says
Holy cow! That looks sooo good! How big is that cookie really? Does using the bread flour make a substantial difference?
carole says
I have a suggestion on parchment paper.
Go to your favorite bakery and get the name of the paper supply company they use. Perhaps they will order for you at there cost.
I found them at http://www.bakedeco.com
30 16 x 24-inch $4.00
fit a 18 x 26 large pan.
I realize that this only is a months supply for you Anna. Maybe they have other sizes or would give you a price break on a larger quanity.
Anna says
Claire, I am somewhat fanatical about toasting nuts. It's like night and day.
Cindy, I would love to see the French version of this cookie ;).
Jennifer, let me know how it compares to your recipe. I used a few different recipes as guides in building this one. One in particular was Alton Brown's cookie he calls "The Chewy". I can't remember the other recipes I used to build it, but it's an amalgamation of many.
Jennifer says
Anna, these look and sound very similar to cookies I make quite often. They're always one of my most requested. I really like the texture the oats give them. The candy bar pieces are a nice touch, too.
Cindy says
Wahou, I never saw a cookie that big ! I'd love to try one... They're next on my list of food to try.
Claire N says
Anna, Just wanted to let you know that thanks to your blog I will ALWAYS toast my nuts before putting them into baked goods. I usually just chop and toss them in. However, toasting give SUCH a better flavor. It's amazing the difference it makes.
Anna says
I still consider parchment paper an indulgence! And I confess, that if I neatly remove a batch of cookies from a sheet of parchment, then I will use it again. It's better for the my budget and probably (looking at the big picture) the environment.
Mostly, I use a Silpat. If you don't have one, I recommend you give one a try. I never use cooking spray cookie sheets because I worry that it makes some cookies spread and I don't like how it smells when the exposed part (between the cookies) bakes.
Anonymous says
I have a silly question. I recently purchased my first roll of parchment paper. Growing up it was viewed as an extravagance, and now I've always used baking spray. My question...do you use the same piece of parchment on the baking sheet throughout the entire baking session, or do you change it for each batch of dough that goes in the oven? Does it matter?
Thanks!