In these cookies:
butter
brown sugar
white sugar
eggs
vanilla extract
all-purpose flour
old-fashioned rolled oats
salt
baking soda
chocolate chips
There’s an episode of Arthur—old-school Arthur—where the whole gang is feeling down in the dumps, and they soon realize it’s because they’re in the doldrums of winter with no fun holidays to look forward to. (I just did a search for this episode and found it: “The Long, Dull Winter” originally aired in 1999—the peak of my Arthur obsession.) So they decide the only way out of their dreary state is to invent a new holiday, a project that keeps them busy and motivated until it’s brought to their attention that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.
This episode seems to rise from the depths of my memory every year around this time.
I think this January had every potential to be the forlorn cloud that hung over those Elwood City kids back in ’99. And I mean, it was, on the large scale, pretty dismal—there’s a GD plague out there. But I feel like I’ve been shielded from all that. In my little corner of south Minneapolis where the thermostat sits at 68 and my cat snores on my lap and cookie dough floats from freezer to oven to mouth just about every evening around 8pm? It’s been alright.
We all need something to look forward to. For some people, it’s a vacation getaway. For Arthur and friends, it was the next holiday. For me—and I’m coming to fully appreciate this just now, as I write—it’s the 8pm cookies.
So let’s talk cookies.
Some cookies are delicate. They’re rolled out thin and cut out with care, and baking them to perfection comes down to seconds because they burn on a dime. Some cookies call for weird amounts of flour, like 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons, or a tag team of all-purpose and cake flour. Some cookies are flourished with final drizzles or dips.
Those cookies are beautiful and rewarding, and they have their time. These are not those cookies.
These cookies are a one-bowl wonder, ten minutes from start to scoop. The dough alone wafts the most comfortingly familiar smell of brown sugar, butter, and sweet, nutty oats. The cookies bake up puffy-soft but bite chewy from the oats. They’re both a filling afternoon pick-me-up and a not overly sweet treat to brighten the long winter evenings.
And yes—they’re something to look forward to.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 48 cookies
Ingredients:
½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chips (I like a mix of regular and mini)
Directions:
Everything comes together in one bowl, whether you’re using a stand mixer like I did or mixing by hand. If mixing by hand, I recommend using a regular metal spoon for steps 1 and 2 and then a wooden spoon for step 3. A metal spoon works fine as a scoop too.
1. Mix the butter and sugars until well-blended.
2. Blend in the eggs and vanilla until the mix is homogenous and glossy.
3. Blend in all dry ingredients just until combined; then mix in the chocolate chips.
4.* Scoop small dough balls onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes.
*While I cannot resist baking a few balls of dough fresh from the bowl, I encourage you to only bake a few for now and put the rest of the dough in the fridge until tomorrow. This allows the flour and sugar to fully hydrate, which, through the magic of food chemistry, results in cookies that brown evenly and have chewy centers + crispy edges. It really is a thing; I've tasted the difference. After 24 hours in the fridge, I form the dough into balls, wrap them in plastic wrap, bag them up and freeze them; then they're ready to throw in the oven whenever the cookie craving hits (nightly).
Stay warm and cozy,
xx Megan
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