There is no need to decide between oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies, with these crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They’re two great cookies in one!
- Why I love these crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
- Ingredients and Substitutions/h2>Butter: As noted in the recipe, you can use salted or unsalted butter. If using salted butter, reduce the amount of added salt as specified in the recipe.
- The Reverse Creaming Method
- Baker’s Notes
- Why Recipes Specify Unsalted Butter
- Storage and Freezing
- Get the Recipe: Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- More Cookie Recipes to Love!
These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my favourites. Not only are they delicious, they just hit all the right “cookie” notes for me.
If you generally class cookies as either “thin and crispy” or “thick and chewy”, these are definitely in the thin in the crispy camp. Not crispy in the biscotti sense, but crispy in the wonderful way that butter and sugar caramelize into crispness way.
These cookies are the love child of chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies. They are crisp and buttery like chocolate chip cookies, but with the added texture and taste of of oatmeal.
Ingredients and Substitutions/h2>
Butter: As noted in the recipe, you can use salted or unsalted butter. If using salted butter, reduce the amount of added salt as specified in the recipe.
Oatmeal: This recipe calls for “large flake, old fashioned rolled oats”. These are the long-cooking variety and will produce the best results with this recipe. Quick or Quick Cooking oats are cut into smaller pieces, to cook more quickly. While not ideal, quick oats can be substituted in cookies for the old fashioned, large flake oats. As the oat pieces are smaller, this may result in a thinner, less textured cookie. Instant Oats are too finely processed and not recommended for use in baking.
Chocolate Chips: You don’t need anything fancy here. Just your standard, grocery store chocolate chips are fine.
White and Brown Sugar: The mix of white and brown sugar combines both great flavour, from the brown sugar and nice crispness, from the white sugar. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can use all white sugar, in equal quantities, though your cookies will be more crisp and not quite as flavourful.
The Reverse Creaming Method
These cookies use a method known as the Reserve Creaming Method. Rather than creaming the softened butter with the sugars first, then adding liquids and dry ingredients, these cookies start by combining the dry ingredients, adding the liquids and finally adding the softened butter.
Baker’s Notes
Be sure you soften your butter just to room temperature, but don’t leave the butter to soften too long. Over-softened butter will make for greasy cookies. “Room Temperature Butter” is really about 67F. It should just yield when pressed. For cookies, it’s better to err with butter on the side of less soft than too soft.
Rolling these cookies in sugar creates the most wonderful caramelized butter/sugar cookie coating. I wouldn’t skip that part.
If you’d like your cookies to be extra pretty, press a couple extra chocolate chips on top of the sugared dough balls before baking. Try not to flatten the ball as you do it though. Tip! Press them in point side down. These creates finished cookies with visible chocolate chips on top. Not necessary, but nice.
Speaking of chocolate chips, I feel like you could sneak a few more chocolate chips into these cookies, if you like. You could probably easily put 1/2 cup in, but I wouldn’t go much further than that, as too much melty chocolate spots might case these delicate cookies to fall apart too easily.
If you have experience baking chocolate chip cookies, you will find that these cookies bake up the same way. They are “done” when they just starting to turn are golden around the edges, but still a bit wet looking in the centre. If you are watching them towards the end of baking, you will notice that they puff, then collapse slightly. The point when they just start to collapse is the sweet spot.
If you prefer a really crisp cookie, leave them in the oven an extra minute or two longer.
These cookies will be soft as you transfer them to a cooling rack, so lift carefully. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
Why Recipes Specify Unsalted Butter
Many baking recipes specify unsalted butter. Unsalted butter is generally the best, freshest butter, since it has not salt (a preservative) to extend its shelf life. That said, even if a recipe specifies unsalted butter, you can use salted butter. Simply reduce the amount of salt in the recipe by 1/4 tsp. for every 1/2 cup of butter specified in the recipe.
Storage and Freezing
These cookies keep well for days in a cookie jar. Not that they’ll last that long :)
These oatmeal cookies should also freeze well for up to 2 months.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1/2 cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (90 g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, reduce to 1/4 tsp if using salted butter
- 1/2 cup (113 g) salted or unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup (65 g) rolled oats, large-flake, old fashioned
- 1/3 cup (55 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
For topping:
- 1/3 cup (65 g) white granulated sugar
Instructions
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter, egg and vanilla and beat well until mixture comes together as a moist dough. Stir in the oatmeal until combined, then stir in the chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and pop into the fridge for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350F. (regular bake setting/not fan assisted)
- Remove dough from fridge and scoop out a rounded Tbsp of dough. Form into small balls. Dip ball into white sugar and place onto a large, ungreased cookie sheet sugar side up. Be sure to leave plenty of space between your balls (4 inches apart is best) and place them at least 2 inches in from the edge of the pan, as they will spread as they bake. If you have to bake several batches, pop the bowl with the dough back in the fridge while the first batch bakes. (I usually get 20-22 cookies)
- Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until golden around the edges, but paler and still moist looking in the middle. For really crispy cookies, leave in the oven a few minutes longer. Remove from oven and allow to sit on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then carefully (they will be soft) remove to a cooling rack. Cookies will firm up as they cool.
Notes
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I have tried so many cookie recipes and have not been happy until now. Exactly what I was looking for and super easy – I am cookie baking challenged lol.
So glad to hear, Susan! I bake a lot and I find cookies the most difficult baked good to consistently get right. I know we tend to think they are a simple bake, but not so much in my experience :)
I made this recipe and the cookies taste great but did not spread…so this resulted in a not so crispy cookie.
Hi Susan, the main reason for cookies not spreading is too much flour. Did you spoon and level when you measured the flour?
Excellent texture and great flavor!
So glad you enjoyed these cookies! Thanks :)
I would love e to make these as a keto version. I loved the original cookies. Soooo good. Do you have any ideas how to make this recipe keto?
Hi Laura, wish I could help, but I have no idea. I’m thinking it would be challenging to make cookies without flour or sugar, but I’m sure someone has done it. Perhaps check keto cookie recipes and see what adaptations they have made.
Excellent cookies! Refrigerated overnight and they still spread a lot and were very thin. This did not detract from the amazing texture and flavour. I reduced the sugar slightly, added flaked salt on top and baked for 12 mins. Making another batch as we speak :)
So glad you enjoyed them, Melissa and yes, these are thin and crispy cookies, for sure. Thanks!
I mixed this by hand so I went the usual process of blending butter & sugar, adding the egg then the vanilla before adding flour, powder, soda, salt, flour, oats, chips(mini semi-sweet & raisins!). This turned out really well for my batch. I marked 4 stars only because I tasted the raw batter & decided the cookies didn’t need the extra roll in sugar before baking; they were plenty sweet already & for those not wanting a very sweet cookie, I recommend cutting back on the sugar (recipe calls for 1c combined plus more on top). I used 1/2c turbinado sugar & 1/4c brown sugar plus 1/4c granulated to ensure the crispness; I plan to cut back next time. I also added about an 1/8tsp cinnamon, 1/8tsp nutmeg for some spice. Other than the sweetness, this is a very good recipe to make crispy cookies! Thank you, Jennifer!
Glad you enjoyed them, Lauren :) Thanks so much!
An outstanding recipe. Just tried today, added currents, chopped pecans in addition to the chocolate chips. Put the dough in the fridge as suggested and turned out so well, this will be my go to recipe now. THANK YOU.
So glad you enjoyed the, Cheryl! Thanks so much :)
I baked “sample” cookies before the dough was refrigerated, and they were a perfect crispiness! I’m going to try them without rolling them in sugar too. I’ll add chopped walnuts , too, since we all like nuts. I’ve looked for a good crispy recipe for several years… this was a true “find.” Thanks!
So glad to hear, Cher :) Thanks so much!