I think it might be against the law for a person to have a baking blog and not have at least ONE chocolate chip cookie recipe. Given that, I could not let my first month of blogging pass without adding my two chips to the cookie conversation (Get it? Two chips? Like two cents? I’ll see myself out!)
In my first EVER blog post, I talked about Babon’s Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. I want to make it known that I strive to duplicate the taste of her chocolate chip cookies in every recipe. Picture this. It was the mid-nineties and young Alysha was barely coming into her consciousness. Sitting in Babon’s kitchen, I remember the smell wafting through the room, the chocolatey aroma filling me with anticipation. Warm, rich chocolate chip cookies coming straight from the oven. It was paradise. I’m sure she made me these cookies dozens of times in my formative years and somehow each batch was better than the last. Perfect round disks of flour, sugar, chocolate, and love. The following is not her recipe, but rather a homage to the treat that made me fall in love with chocolate chip cookies all those years ago.
About the Recipe
There are only so many ways to make a chocolate chip cookie. Sure, some folks tinker around with the quantity of ingredients, but after a while, you run out of ways to combine flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, and chocolate. That is until now. This recipe utilizes a secret ingredient to make these cookies incredibly soft and deliciously chewy. The way a chocolate chip cookie should be. The secret? Karo corn syrup (not to be confused with high fructose corn syrup). This simple addition is critical in making a soft, chewy final product that stays soft for days after baking.
I’m not going to pretend to be a scientist and explain why Karo syrup makes a difference, but I will venture to say that it adds more moisture to the double, allowing it to bake up nicely and retain a higher water content than a recipe with only sugar. (If you’re reading this and you know that actual reason Karo syrup makes amazing chocolate chip cookies, please let me know in the comments!)
Another point about this recipe is the addition of oatmeal. Aside from my lifelong love of oatmeal, objectively, it adds a nutty, wholesome flavor to the cookie and pairs beautifully with the chocolate chips. In fact, I prefer oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to “traditional” chocolate chip cookies without oatmeal. And plus, doesn’t adding oatmeal make these healthy cookies? π π π
For this recipe, I recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour. While you can certainly skip this step (I did on the first go-around ) and your cookies will turn out just fine, I find that chilling it makes a thicker, more flavorful cookie. Chilling the dough also allows the butter to firm up a bit so your cookies won’t spread as much. I’m not one to turn down a cookie just because it’s a little flat, but they don’t make for good pictures on a baking blog…
It’s also important to note that the addition of Karo syrup seemed to increase the baking time. I experimented with baking at a higher temperature for a more typical cookie baking time (375 degrees for 10-12 minutes), but I found that the centers were just too gooey, if there is such a thing. By keeping the temperature at 350 degrees and increasing the bake time to 16-18 minutes, the cookies firmed up enough to make a perfectly done center that still had some give.
In order to get the seal of approval to be featured on the blog, it had to pass either the Entryway test with my 24 college-aged neighbors or the husband test. Since I baked for the entryway last week and I worry a bit about their sugar intake, it was up to Rakim to decide if this was a keeper or not. Fortunately for me, my brother-in-law Damaine was also available for the taste test.
The fact that you’re reading this is proof that it passed with flying colors. In fact, I couldn’t even stage a photo of them eating the cookies because they’re already gone! Maybe I should start worrying more about their health too… However, I can’t put all of the blame on them. I definitely had my fair share of fresh-baked cookies in between photo shoots. My will power is not strong enough to resist the allure of a warm cookie and an ice-cold glass of milk. Yum!
What do you think about this recipe? How does it compare to your tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe? Do you think you’ll try my secret ingredient? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Baking!
Alysha
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2Β½ cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 sticks Butter
- ΒΎ cup Brown sugar, packed
- ΒΌ cup Granulated sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- Β½ cup Karo Syrup
- 1 Egg
- ΒΎ cup Quaker Quick Oats
- 1Β½ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips
Instructions
- Beat butter, sugars, vanilla, and Karo syrup in a bowl until smooth
- Add egg and beat well
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
- Slowly add flour mixture into the wet mixture and mix until combined
- Fold in oats and chocolate chips
- Cover dough and chill in the refridgerator for at least one hour. If baking immediately after, begin preheating your oven a few minutes before taking the dough out of the refrigerator.
- Scoop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 16-18 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are no longer doughy.
- Let cookies cool on the pan for approximately five minutes before transferring to a wire rack
Omg I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Hi Jazzy J!! Same here!! I love how the oatmeal and chocolate pair together! Itβs such a treat π Thanks so much for commenting and reading The Baker and the Beast!
Does it change the recipe, if say I wanted to add walnuts?
Hi Frydaddy! Thanks so much for the comment! Feel free to add any type of add-ins to this recipe! I’d recommend adding no more than 3/4 cup of additional ingredients. Let me know how it works out!
Adding the oatmeal does make them healthy! π
Yes!! If two people agree it must be true, right? Thanks for reading and commenting, Sierra!
Oatmeals in a chocolate chip cookie sounds super unique. I’ll have to try your recipe sometime!
Hi S! Thanks so much for reading and commenting! You should totally give them a try! Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a special treat π Let me know if you like them and stay tuned for more recipes!