Name: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Ingredients: 2 sticks unsalted butter (½ pound), softened but still firm; 1 cup packed (7 ounces/198 grams) light brown sugar; 1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) granulated sugar; 2 eggs; 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces/213 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon table salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg; 3 cups (9 ounces/255 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats; 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Why This Recipe Works

We developed our oatmeal cookie recipe in order to get a big, chewy cookie with lots of real oat flavor. To get there, we made a few changes to the conventional oatmeal cookie recipe: First, we substituted baking powder for baking soda. The baking powder gave the dough more lift, which in turn made the cookies less dense and a bit chewier. Second, we eliminated the cinnamon recommended in most oatmeal cookie recipes, revealing more oat flavor. Third, we made our cookies really big, doubling the amount of dough most recipes recommend dropping onto the cookie sheet. We had learned that small cookies tend to be dry; by increasing size, we got more moisture and more chewiness. Fourth, we increased the sugar in our cookies, and this made a huge difference in terms of texture and moistness.

Before You Begin

If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the white sugar by one-quarter cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown but the rest of the cookie should still be very light in color. Parchment makes for easy cookie removal and cleanup, but it’s not a necessity. If you don’t use parchment, let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Instructions

Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.