Mega Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wrote this last night but never got to posting.. Please disregard any weather-grumpiness. The sun is shining! All is right with the world!

R-

That cake looks amazing, Thanks for joining me in the 'rocking-your-own-birthday-cake' club.

The fake fireplace is on, cookies cooling on the racks and we've been cuddled up with quilts and books for what seems like forever. It should be the season of grilling and exotic salad concoctions, yet the most popular dinner item at the Campbell table lately correlates directly with rain-fall: mashed potatoes.

I've always had problems with potatoes - after eating them almost exclusively at dinner for the first 10 years or so of my life (that would be 6 of yours)- Joan discovered the world of rice and pasta and potatoes were relegated to wedges with hamburgers, and maybe Christmas. Mike, of potato bar fame, loves potatoes. In the past, potatoes were my nemesis. I seemed incapable of cooking the perfect mashed potato- I could roast 'em, wedge 'em, and occasionally bake 'em but mash I could not. They always turned out a bit lumpy, never the mashed potato that I (or Mike) envisioned. Well, I've confronted the lowly spud and would smugly like to declare a new winner. So, with gloomy days, the yukon golds have been pumping through my kitchen - in part because princess Coby loves them- and she really does have us all wrapped around her perfectly-pudgy little finger.

But on to cookies - this is my day-to-day chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe. I rotate batches of these babies with batches of chocolate chip squares (blondies). All is not right with the world if there is not a tupperware container stocked with cookies in my snack cupboard. This is another throwback to our Reems childhood. I still remember the moment that Mom left the kitchen - all four us us, plus Guy*, would skulk into the kitchen for a cookie-snatching. This recipe is lower fat and sugar, note not low fat, the 'er' is key to that taste/health ratio. The oats and whole wheat flour are important for the illusion of health after you've hit the cookie jar a bit too hard.

This is my mega-version of the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from One Smart Cookie. You pointed me to this recipe when I fell in love with your white chocolate chunk cranberry version at Carmen's stagette. I've tinkered with amounts and ingredients that work for me. To dress these babies up I add pecans and swap the chocolate chips with Bernard Callebaut chunks. The most important part of this recipe is the cooking time. Er on the side of caution and UNDER-BAKE. They will firm up as they cool. Because we consume so many of these on a daily basis I use a combo of whole wheat and white flour, since they are a chunky, chewy cookie this seems to work, though they do dry out after a few days so I freeze most and take out of the freezer as needed.

Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies - The Mega Batch
Sorry, but if you want a smaller batch I'll let you do the math! I used to make all at once and freeze half of the batch- now I'm trying your method and freezing ziplocks of individual cookie dough balls to be baked when my cookie container is empty.

In your biggest mixing bowl cream:
1 cup butter (I can never remember to soften the butter ahead of time and always have to zap it in the microwave - I find this works well since the butter melts just enough to make it really easy to cream with the butter)
2 1/2 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Add:
3 eggs
3 T honey or maple syrup

Next add your dry ingredients (you can mix them together separately, I just mix in the same bowl):
3 1/2 cups flour (I use 2 cups all purpose and 1 1/2 c whole wheat)
3 cups old fashioned oats (you could try regular too)
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 generous cups chocolate chips
Other options: chopped pecans or walnuts, dried cranberries, raisins, white choc chunks....

It takes a bit to mix, just because there is a lot of stuff in the bowl.

Drop by spoons onto a cookie sheet, flatten each cookie and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until just brown and set on the bottom, the tops should still look doughy. Set your timer for 7 minutes just to be on the safe side.

These don't last long, thus the mega batch!


*Note to non-Reems readers: Guy is affectionate Reems-speak for Dad