Huge Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Click here to view recipe.

Seriously – The BEST!

I came home on a “rescue” flight from Guatemala in late May, just as the president was locking down the country.  Truly locking it down – as in no one was allowed to be outside for four days each week—which meant no shopping, no walking, nada.  Nisht.  I encountered these rules the weekend before we were to leave as our flight was canceled. But that is another story for another day. I’m just relieved to be home!

My mornings in Seattle begins around 6:30 am.  My barista (aka husband) makes me a mug of cappuccino so I can start my engine.  I then start putting my flour, sugar, yeast, vanilla, and everything I need for baking on the counter.  This morning, which is already three weeks since I’ve been back, he remarked that I was a sick individual with a severe baking addiction.  I cannot argue that point.  Every single day I make bread, some type of pastry or pie or cake and then the ho-hum soups and good, fresh dinners. 

I know, I know, I know!  I have no reason to have yet another oatmeal cookie recipe but come on…my daughter Rachel stocked our kitchen before we returned and quarantined with too much bread flour, white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, bittersweet chocolate, and other baking (and cooking) stuff. So bake, I must.

I can also blame this insanity on my sisters.  We Zoom every Sunday evening for 80 minutes then send flurries of texts so we compare notes on what we are cooking and baking, then recipes are sent back and forth and reviews of the food are unabashedly made.

Skeptic that I am, I don’t trust most people when they tell me a cookie recipe is really good.  But my seesters?  They have genetic taste buds like me and are baking snobs as well.  None of us would consider white chocolate or light chocolate or even semi-sweet chocolate, heaven forbid.  We are intense chocoholics after all.

Kay and I heard about these cookies from Susan, who got the recipe from her daughter-in-law Nicole who probably made them gluten-free.  Susan sent us both her recipe and Kay made them not once but three times in the past week!  Today was my maiden voyage. And I am here to testify that these are really good and really easy. Plus – they make enough for me to give some to my two offspring who brilliantly decided to settle in Seattle so they can always have food from their mother.  And if my freezer isn’t packed I’ll have an excuse to make yet another batch of cookies or scones or breakfast bread.

“BIG ASS” (Susan’s title) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield 24 large (4” in diameter) cookies 

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Ingredients
  • 1 cup salted butter softened
  • 1 ½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • 2 ⅓ cup rolled oats (old-fashioned) 
  • 1 (12 oz) pkg. bittersweet chocolate chips (my bittersweet chips only had 10 oz which     Kay said was plenty, but I, of course, added two more ounces from another pack)
  • 1 ½ cup chopped toasted nuts (salted and/or smokey almonds are great I hear, but I just had pecans on hand which I toasted.  I try to go to the store no more than once a week right now.)
  • Coarse cane sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions

Beat butter and brown sugar in a large bowl of an electric mixer until creamy; beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly.

Add oats, chocolate chips, and cooled toasted nuts; mix well by hand or quickly in the machine.

Shape each cookie by scooping into a ¼ cup measure for large cookies, six per sheet.  I then cover the balls of dough with a piece of waxed paper and flatten them evenly. Next, sprinkle a few flakes of coarse sugar on top.  

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 13-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets for five minutes then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Cook’s notes:

  • In general, when I bake cookies, I do all the scooping at once and put the balls of dough onto a parchment-lined tray, then refrigerate until I am ready to bake.  This keeps the dough cooler and I can wash the pans and equipment while the first batch of cookies is baking.  I hate having a bunch of dishes to do at the end, truth be told. 
  • My sister Susan noted: these are “very similar to mom’s oatmeal ccc’s. Easy to make gluten-free w/substitute flour, tastes the same I swear.”
  • These freeze well up to two months, or you can freeze the dough balls and bake as needed.  
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2 Responses to Huge Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

  1. Marcia Wiviott says:

    Marilyn … love your posts ! I too am cooking like crazy especially since Doug and I like to quarantine ourselves at our beach home at Camano Island . Baking while looking at the water is the best ! It’s no work at all here having a beach .. cool breezes….and Happy Hours always at 4 or 5 . Hope you are doing well and glad you are back in the states safe and sound! Marcia Wiviott

    • Marilyn says:

      Camano seems like a perfect place to be right now! I felt the same in Antigua-much more angst and difficulty in Seattle for sure. I try to get outside to walk a lot, and of course yes to Happy Hours! Stay healthy and hopefully we will have a more normal life, hopefully sooner than later! Xo

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