My younger sister makes incredible oatmeal cookies. Each bite crunches and chews and melts all at once. Every few years I would try to bake them myself according to the recipe she gave me, but my cookies were always a disappointment – cakey and soft and wrong. I tried every variation of the recipe I could think of. Cold butter, warm butter, light brown sugar, dark brown, longer cooking times, shorter cooking times. Each variation left me with a pile of cookies I didn’t particularly want to eat.
I resigned myself to the fact that I would only have a truly good oatmeal cookie when Jeanne felt like making them for me. Then Dagny paid a visit to my older sister, Anna, and came home with a recipe Anna has apparently been using since high school that had somehow passed me by. Finally, finally, I can make my own crunchy, chewy, melty oatmeal cookies.
If you’re on the east coast, you should have time to whip these up before the power goes out.
Or am I the only one who equates storm prep with a marathon baking session?
Anna’s Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat oven to 350.
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups oats
6 oz chocolate chips
Cream butter.
Add sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Anna’s instructions are to bake for 5-7 minutes. I think I make my cookies bigger than she does, but mine bake for 9-12 minutes. They’re ready when they’re golden and the edges are lightly browned.
