A few hours off this morning was the absolute perfect time to de-stress so that I can gear up for a busy weekend of projects and more projects. I had a doctor’s appointment this morning to get a CT scan (looking at my sinuses as a possible source of migraines), and I was in and out of the office in fifteen minutes! Total success.
I took advantage of the extra time to make some cookies for a class presentation today. I wanted to make something slightly healthy but also appealing to the general population–you know, those weirdos who don’t drink green smoothies or eat flaxseed with their steel-cut oats or love beet greens as a snack.
Who are those nuts, anyway?
These cookies are a perfect combination of a spiced oatmeal cookie and a chewy chocolate chip cookie. Really the best of both buttery worlds–and out of the 78 cookies I made this morning, four remain.
I’d say that’s a pretty good sign.
Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)
- 1 1/2 C whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 t baking powder
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/4 t freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 C unsalted butter
- 1 C packed brown sugar
- 1 C white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 C old-fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 C semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Just a quick note–Mom recently sent me an email about baking and butter. I’ve always used salted butter out of convenience (that’s what we’ve always had around the house), but salted butter has a higher moisture content which can mess with your baked goods. Plus, you can control how much salt you are eating (and I think we could all use a little less salt in our diets!). So–unsalted butter it is! Also, I doubled the recipe (hence the 78 cookies), so excuse the massive quantities of ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 325. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugars together with the mixer for 3-6 minutes on medium until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat for a another minute, scraping down the sides a few times.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the flour mixture until just combined. It’s good to note here that a double batch of this dough will not fit in my mixer bowl and everything else had to be done by hand. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips.
Sneak a taste–it’s delicious!
Scoop out spoonfuls (I just heaping tablespoonfuls to make perfectly sized 1-serving cookies), roll into balls with your hands, and place a few inches apart on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.
Flatten the balls lightly with the palm of your hand.
Bake for 20 minutes or so until lightly browned on the edges. They won’t look done at first, but let them cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes and they’ll firm right up.
Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. Oatmeal cookie perfection.
And though I was a little worried about the strangeness of substituting chocolate chips for raisins in an oatmeal spice cookie, the nutmeg is just subtle enough to make it special. Definitely not weird.
And as a little tip–cookies are a great way to make people love you. Even if you are presenting a made up business project for 20 minutes.
When we were home for Thanksgiving, my family stole a few minutes to go out and pick out the perfect Christmas tree–even though it wasn’t freezing and snowy the way we are used to (I mean, November in Syracuse, people!), we had tons of fun picking it out, cutting it, putting the Yule Log channel on the TV and drinking wine while decorating it.
Actually, only Mom and I had the wine.
But we enjoyed that part.
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Nuts about food
December 1, 2011 at 3:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Aaaaw, i just love Christmas trees and decoration. And oatmeal, and cookies. And white wine… ok you get the idea!
Danielle
December 1, 2011 at 10:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not only do those cookies look delicious, but that is the most adorable little shredder I have ever seen!!!! I am assuming it is for the nutmeg in the photo there. I have got to get my hands on one of those!
Lauren Zietsman
December 1, 2011 at 11:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It is for the nutmeg! My mom got it for Christmas for me last year, but I’ve also seen them sold cheap at Bed, Bath, and Beyond!
Lisa
December 1, 2011 at 5:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Those cookies look absolutely amazing – but your photos of selecting your Christmas tree have sufficently put me in the Christmas spirit! Thank you, I needed that!
Merry Christmas and congrats on such an awesome blog!
Cheers,
Lisa @ Uforic Food
Lauren Zietsman
December 2, 2011 at 10:51 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Gonna pick out a small tree for our apartment tomorrow
it’s getting cold out and the Christmas music is playing!
Heidi @ Food Doodles
December 1, 2011 at 5:11 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Those do look like the perfect oatmeal cookies! Sometimes I like raisins in my oatmeal cookies, but chocolate chips are better(duh?) I loooove the fresh nutmeg. And as always I’m a huge fan of the whole wheat
They look so yummy… I could go for a couple right now!
Irma
December 3, 2011 at 6:00 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Great recipe! I love cookies with whole wheat flour and oats!
I’ll try as soon as possible!
Irma
Perfect Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies » A Full Measure of Happiness
March 3, 2012 at 10:21 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
[...] so dang good. The first time around I made 80 cookies for a business presentation in my class and substituted chocolate chips, and they disappeared real quick. This time some tart dried cranberries (unsweetened) made their [...]