Oatmeal Cookies

Preparation time

3h

Servings

20-24 servings

I'm not a huge fan of cookies, never have been. I think it stems from the fact that the cookies I was used to eating as a child were hard, dry and so brittle, they turned to sand in your mouth after one bite. Thankfully thoughm, I've learned through the years that not every cookie actually needs to taste and be the texture of sawdust.

These oatmeal cookies are the exact opposite: rich, chewy, still a little bit moist and simply delicious. The addition of cinnamon and cardamom make them a staple during the holidays, but I make them all-year-round, when the craving hits.

Ingredients

  • 225 g butter (cubed, room temperature)
  • 200 g light brown sugar
  • 100 g white sugar
  • 5 ml vanilla essence
  • 2 eggs
  • 220 g flour
  • 5 g corn starch
  • 5 g baking soda
  • 4 g salt
  • 3 g / 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 g / 1 tsp cardamom
  • 300 g rolled oats

Optional mix-ins

  • 100 g chocolate chunks

  • 100 g raisins

  • 100 g chopped nuts

Directions

  1. In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla.
  2. Add the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly between each addition. Don't worry if the dough seems to split, it'll come back together with enough mixing.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, starch, soda, salt and spices.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until no more streaks of flour can be seen (don't overwork the dough if you don't want the cookies to be very cakey).
  5. Add the oats and mix until incorporated.
  6. Mix in any additional mix-ins.
  7. Take and ice cream scoop (or a large spoon) and scoop a spoonful into your hands. Roll the dough into a ball, about 4-5cm in diameter and place on a plate, then repeat until you run out of dough. Transfer the plate with the dough balls into the fridge and let cool for 45 minutes. At this point you could also freeze the balls and bake them at a later time.
  8. Heat your oven to 190°C.
  9. Take the dough balls out of the fridge and place them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Make sure to leave enough space between them, since these spread to about twice their diameter. I go for 5 cookies in an X-layout on my 35x25cm tray.
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Don't overcook! (see notes)
  11. Pull them out of the oven and leave them on the tray for a few minutes, during which the cookies' middles will set. At this point transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

Notes

How to know the cookies are done? These cookies shouldn't be completely hard when you pull them out of the oven, quite the opposite actually. The sides of the cookie should caramelized and brown, and hold their shape when prodded. But the middle should still be soft and gooey, looking like it's a bit undercooked. That's completely normal, the middles will set while sitting on the tray a few minutes after being pulled from the oven.

On the note of mix-ins: Don't add too much into the dough, or your cookies might not hold together well. Also go for low moisture mix-ins, like chocolate, nuts, raisins etc. to not raise the moisture too much, making the cookies soggy and cook unevenly.

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