What's Cooking - Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal cookie recipes range so widely from the thin and crispy to the thick and cakey and it seems impossible to make/bake cookies that meet every single Oatmeal Cookie expectation. My co-workers wife made these cookies for us one holiday and was kind enough to share the recipe with me. The cookies are not too thin and not too thick, but extremely soft in the middle and slightly crispy on the outside, which makes for a great Oatmeal cookie (In my opinion). This weekend I was in another one of my baking moods and decided to whip up a batch.   Another great recipe worth trying out.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away.  I chilled my dough for about 30 minutes before baking.  Per the receipe, it makes the cookies a little thicker.

 Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in).  Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.