Every recipe author seems to swear by a different “key” to the perfect chocolate chip cookie: The temperature of the dough, the time the butter and sugar are given to meld, the size of the cookies, the position of the big dipper in the summer sky relative to Venus, etc. My recipe is pretty simple in comparison. I will not claim that it’s the best one out there, but it is my favorite. It came out of my childhood church’s cookbook, and it’s the one my mom has been making for potlucks, post-church coffee hours and congratulations-on-making-it-to-Fridays for as long as I can remember.
Lutheran Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies*
Adapted from the Mount Olive Lutheran Church Cookbook
Notes: You can add different amounts of flour, depending on what kind of cookie you like. The original recipe calls for 2 cups, which will give you thin cookies that are chewy in the center and the tiniest bit crisp at the edges. My mom uses 2 1/2 cups, which makes a chubby, doughy cookie. I like to split the difference and use 2 1/4 cups.
You can bake these right away, but the dough keeps for up to a week in the fridge (I had my first salmonella scare when I snuck a handful out of a bowl of chilled dough when I was little. Aah, memories). Beyond that, the dough freezes really well. Since the recipe makes a pretty big batch, I usually scoop the dough into cookie shapes, freeze it, then keep the dough balls in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Then I’m ready to throw a pan of them in the oven at a moment’s notice – in case I get invited somewhere and I need something to bring, last minute…Or it’s Monday and The Bachelor is starting in like 15 minutes. Like I said, they’re appropriate for all occasions. They don’t need to thaw before they go in the oven – just an extra minute or two to bake.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2-2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups oatmeal
- 1 cup chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or coarsely chopped chocolate if you want to be really fancy.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
- Cream together butter and sugars, by hand or with an electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until combined. Stir in flour mixture.
- Gradually add oats and chocolate chips. Stir with a spoon until fully combined.
- Drop tablespoon-sized dough balls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake until you are juuuust starting to see the tiniest hints of golden-brown at the edges. For soft, chewy cookies, you’ll want to take them out before they really look done. About 8-11 minutes.
- Cool on the pan for a minute or two, then move to newsprint or a cut-up brown paper bag to cool the rest of the way. Best eaten the day they’re made.
*There is nothing inherently Lutheran about the cookies, but I call them that so that people will think Lutherans are magic cookie-wizards.
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