Thursday, January 19, 2012

My Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I grew up in a cookie family. Some families are pie families. Some families are ice cream families. Some families are into cake. The Eyres were firmly into cookies. As teenagers, my sister Shawni or I made cookies all the time after school. Our friends and younger siblings and all their friends had handfuls of cookie dough (a lot of times, the cookies never made it to the oven and we never really heard of salmonella but no one ever got sick) and fresh hot cookies for their after school snacks in our crowded kitchen - always the gathering place. We experimented with lots of recipes and borrowed lots of ingredients from our very patient neighbors who probably wondered why in the world we kept starting to make cookies without verifying that we had all the ingredients first. Sure, we probably could have picked a healthier after school snack. But we also could have picked something worse... At least there wasn't corn syrup or partially hydrated oils or chemicals involved...(and I've got a whole post 1/2 written about my theories on healthy eating for kids so maybe that will make up for some of the non-super-healthy focus of this post...)

Now, whenever we get together, someone is whipping up a batch of cookies at least once a day. Our kids have been trained in cookie-making from young ages and they do a lot of the cookie baking these days. Most of us have developed our own special versions of the primarily oatmeal chocolate chip recipes we made growing up.  Shawni brought a great oatmeal-heavy recipe from her mother-in-law to our family. Jonah perfected a fabulous recipe including ground flax seed instead of some of the butter. Saydi created a recipe that includes coconut and rice crispies for an added twist. Oatmeal is a staple in all our recipes as are semi-sweet chocolate chips. And we're all into cutting out some of the butter and sugar - we like a little lighter taste and figure that if we're going to make and eat cookies a lot, we'd better make them a little healthier. Everyone has their strong opinions about what's the best recipe but luckily, since we make cookies repeatedly when we're all together, everyone gets a chance to make their favorite recipe.

Here are a few photos I found quickly and easily of cookie-baking experiences over the years:
my sister Saydi making cookies with Ashton and Isaac the night before the twins were born

Ashton doling out the cookies to siblings and cousins

Liza and Silas work as a team to make cookies
(this is how many should fit on a cookie sheet for the recipe below - and the cookie scoop is a great thing!)
Anyway, over the years I've fine-tuned what is now MY favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. And here it is - for posterity - and for those who might want to try it out!

Here's how the cookies from this recipe are supposed to look
(the twins wanted them for their birthday "cake" a couple years ago)

Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Loosli Family Favorite

This is the recipe we use at least a couple times a month for after-church cookie baking or family home evening treats. It's super yummy and we love doing different variations – sometimes with chocolate chips and dried cherries and coconut, other times with chocolate chips and raisins, sometimes with chocoate chips and walnuts. As this recipe uses ½ the butter of most recipes and has lots of oatmeal and some flax seed, it's quite healthy as far as cookies go.

2 cubes butter (1 cup) - softened
½ cup ground flax seed
1 ½ c. brown sugar (loosely packed)
1 c. white sugar
3 large eggs (or substitute one egg for ¼ c. water to cut down on fat)
2 tsp vanilla
MIX TOGETHER, then add:

1 ½ c white flour
¾ c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
MIX IN with the rest,
then add, one cup at a time:

3 ½ cups quick oatmeal
1 c. chocolate chips (or 1 1/2 cups if you like them more chocolaty)

Optional: (you can cut down a bit on the chocolate chips if you want to add all this stuff)
1 c. raisins, craisins or dried cherries
1 c. flaked sweetened coconut
1 c. rice crispies

Preheat convection oven to 330 degrees. Drop by spoonful (or cookie scoop) onto a cookie sheet. Should fit on two cookie sheets if you do 5 rows of 4 (plus there will be a little dough to eat!). Cook for 8-9 minutes. Take out when slightly brown on edges but still a bit doughy looking in the middle. Once cooled, put in the freezer if you'd like to have them remain super fresh for use in the future. Or eat the day you bake them!

Makes the equivalent of a double batch of most recipes - about 40 cookies.



11 comments:

anna said...

This sounds like a really good recipe and I have some ground flaxseed at home! Thanks for sharing Saren! Love the cookie memories...

gojensens said...

I have a question for you, sorry I'm posting it on your blog. I am a Learning Circle Leader and I have a member of the group that talks A LOT! She just joined our group a couple months ago, I really was hoping the group would really help her. The problem is no one else gets a real chance to talk and when she talks she makes excuses for the way she is doing things and really seems "happy" or fine with how she is doing things. She doesn't seem like she has the desire or need to change things. Anyway, I am constantly reviewing the rules, but still not sure what more to do. I feel that the rest of the members are now leaving a little frustrated rather than uplifted. I already have a few awesome members that will not be rejoining us for Year 2 Manual, and I'm starting to think this is why. What should I do? Please help! gojensens@hotmail.com

bostonshumways said...

oh man, those look good. can't wait to bake some of those up when you come and visit sar!

Heather said...

had a snow day today, I think we'll try them!

Linda said...

Oh the memories!

Hilary said...

Saren, I was just rying to think of something to have for FHE treat that wuldn't make me fat. :) Of course, if i eat 20 of them.... ;)

Brianna said...

Love this post Saren!! I grew up making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies every Sunday with my dad after church! That was one of our favorite traditions!!! Then when I found out all about my son's allergies(not even 1 yr old) I was the most worried about carrying on the cookie making tradition with my children! So, the first recipe I created was an awesome chocolate chip oatmeal cookie totally allergy free!

Shapiro said...

Hey, this looks yummy... we'll try it this Sunday after church! ;) Thanks for sharing!
I just found another one (if you're looking for even more healthy...) on everydayfoodstorage.net - try it out!
Low-Fat Food Storage Chocolate Chip Cookies-made with White Beans

Recipe type: Dessert
Prep time: 1 hour 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 1 hour 20 mins
These cookies are a great addition to any diet. Not only are they full of food storage, but also fiber, protein and little fat!
Ingredients

cup cooked white beans
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs (1/4 C. dry powdered eggs + 1/2 C. Water)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ¼ cups wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
tsp. baking soda
tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup pecans (or walnuts) chopped

Instructions

Beat beans and sugar together.
Add eggs, vanilla.
In separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Add flour moisture to bean/sugar mixture.
Stir until well blended.
Stir in chocolate chips, and nuts.
Cover and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-15 minutes depending on size of cookies.

Notes

Makes 4 dozen.

Atzimba said...

Hi! Came across your blog searching for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I am trying your recipe right now. Is 330 degrees the right temperature for the oven?
The first tray needed a lot longer than 8-9 min at that temp. so I increased it.
Just wanted to check in, and make sure these cookies get eaten for dinner tonight.
thanks for sharing this recipe :)

Atzimba said...

Hi! Came across your blog searching for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and I am trying your recipe right now. Is 330 degrees the right temperature for the oven?
The first tray needed a lot longer than 8-9 min at that temp. so I increased it.
Just wanted to check in, and make sure these cookies get eaten for dinner tonight.
thanks for sharing this recipe :)

Laura said...

These are really good. I usually don't believe in making desserts healthy, but we liked these. I have a question, though. A friend told me when you bake ground flaxseed it looses a lot of it's nutrients. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks for the recipe.

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