Every family has one recipe that, more than all others, stands as the top culinary heirloom. For my wife’s family, this would be it. It’s the cookie that’s always around at holidays, and just about every day in between. The story goes that while my in-laws were living in Madison in the early 80s, a woman was selling oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on the street downtown. They loved them so much that my mother-in-law Martha baked dozed of batches trying to recreate them before, finally, settling on this recipe.
While the original cookie was reportedly very lightly sweetened—this version is anything but healthy. It’s also dead simple and fairly forgiving. There’s no complicated dance of creaming sugars and adding eggs one at a time. In fact, they’re better when you find the laziest path to getting them mixed and in the oven. If you don’t have shortening on hand, just go all butter. Want to cut the sugar some? Go for it. In fact, it would be totally fitting if you tweaked this recipe to your liking and made it your family’s new favorite cookie.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 2 cups chocolate chips, semi-sweet or bittersweet
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉.
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter, shortening, eggs, sugars, milk, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until combined—about 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to the mixer and mix on low until just combined.
- Add the rolled oats and chocolate chips and mix again until just combined.
- Spoon out onto a lined baking sheet, 12 cookies to a sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of flaky salt, and bake for 8-10 minutes.
