We have been in a deep freeze the past couple days in Connecticut… so extra cooking keeps your mind busy… off the frigid temps… while keeping the house warm… and what’s better than the smell of cookies throughout the house?
We woke up this morning to a frigid – 6 degrees this morning… BRRRRR! Which really felt more like – 20 degrees! Even though we’ve enjoyed pretty decent weather this past winter… and still have no snow on the ground as of today… Feb. 4th! I have no memory of not ever seeing having snow by this time… and I came here in 1971. Fox weather said the other day that this hasn’t happenend since 1973… guess I was too much of a newlywed to have been paying attention to snow!
When we have really cold weather… it seems to push me to bake more… which benefits a warmer house without having to turn up the thermostat… especially with home heating oil at $3.69 a gallon. While it has been lower than it was… it di escalate to over Five Dollars a gallon the past couple of months… which is not good for your pocketbook!
As hubby was putting away the new oatmeal I bought the other day… he muttered, “Oatmeal Chocolate Chip” cookies sure would hit the spot today! And I complied… after he measured out all the ingredients for me…. how sweet of him, but! Hubby doesn’t like using measuring cups… he prefers the glass measuring larger cups. Even though I’ve told him how they won’t give correct measurements… it’s what he likes to use; you really need to be more precise in baking vs cooking!
While my butter softened slightly, I decided to re-measure his measurements… and he was amazed at how much flour, sugar and oats I left in his measuring cups! Will it deter him from measuring again in the glass cups… probably not!
I used the recipe that was printed on the inside lid of Quaker Oats today… minus the raisins and cinnamon… instead adding 1 cup chocolate chips. I decided to go with half semi-sweet and half dark chocolate chips… adding extra yummy in using multiple chocolate flavors! If I had had milk chocolate chips, I would have included them also.
Love the “Vanishing” part of the cookie name!
I choose to always use parchment on my baking pans, chill my batter, and use a cool pan on every batch. In as today was super cold, all I had to do was sit the hot pan on my porch to cool quickly! Keeping your dough and pan chilled, helps to keep your cookies from spreading more than you want. In reading about measuring exact on the flour and sugars… it also seems to make the cookie spread, but today… I measured very exact!
RECIPE:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter – plus 6 tbsp. (softened)
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I use light brown, but you can use dark)
- 1/2 cup grandulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon… only use if adding raisons, but you could add
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) I usually use salted butter so don’t add
- 1 cup raisins; optional (I substituted the chocolate chips instead)
- 1 cups chocolate chips; optional (I used 1/2 semi sweet & 1/2 dark chocolate chips)
- 3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned – uncooked) I used old fashioned
- walnuts optional; hubby doesn’t like nuts in his cookies, so I alter pans in adding nuts on top of cookies before baking… so we both have our favorites. I personally think walnuts taste better than pecans in most cookies… but that’s just my preference. But then again, I have other cookie recipes like butter balls or thumbprints… and I strickly only use pecans… as walnuts just don’t give the right taste to me.
DIRECTIONS:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with mixer until creamy… mixer works best.
- Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
- Add flour, baking soda… cinnamon and salt if using… mix well with mixer.
- Add oats and raisins (if using); mix well now using a wooden spoon.
- Add chocolate chips, stir in with spoon.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking pan… I always use parchment in baking… no greasing needed for cookies. I use my small cookie scooper… so much easier!
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown on edges. I used the convection feature on my oven and used exactly 8 minutes; my edges were lightly brown, but cookie still looked light and wet, but as they cooled, they looked perfect… so don’t overcook!
I cooled cookies on pan before removing to a dish, but you can cool one minute on pan and remove to a wire rack. Cool completely before storing… if you don’t eat them all! Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
What’s your favorite… chocolate chip or oatmeal chocolate chip?
Like to read more… click on Family Recipes
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