Whole Grain Thin And Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

(some with cinnamon chips)

Another great Pinterest find. I tried really hard not to bake for Robin & James, because they don’t want to be loaded up with baked goods, but I couldn’t help myself. Despite the fun of annoying Robin with the word “muffins” as much as possible, I opted for cookies, since I’d just whipped up a batch of carrot oatmeal muffins the night before.

These ones looked interesting, hearty and wholesome, and gave me another excuse to use cinnamon chips as well as some whole wheat pastry flour. And I think oatmeal cookies are comfort food at its most basic.

I started with the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

I whisked them together, then put the bowl aside and pulled out my stand mixer. In went the butter (1 and 3/4 sticks), white sugar, and brown sugar.

I creamed that together, a nice traditional way to start a recipe, then added in the egg and vanilla.

I beat that together, then started adding in the flour mixture, gradually, until everything was incorporated. The stand mixer’s great for that sort of thing but I definitely needed to keep the spatula active to keep the flour from sticking to the bottom of the bowl.

Then it was time to add the oats. I don’t usually do that in the mixer, but I decided it was worth trying.

The last 1/2 cup, I mixed in by hand. I don’t know why. I just felt it had to be that way.

I tasted it. Then I fought the urge to skip the baking process entirely and just eat it out of the bowl and pretend it was breakfast oatmeal.

I used the cookie scoop and made really BIG cookies, I wanted them to turn out like the ones in the picture. I made sure not to put too many on the pan — a tragic flaw of mine, that one — and flattened them slightly, just as suggested.

My only misstep was thinking that the person who created the recipe knew my own oven better than I did. The recipe said to put two trays in at once, and then swap them out (for each other) halfway through. So while the top tray was cooking nicely, the bottom one was burning the cookies to a crisp. Needless to say, I went with my trusty one-pan-at-a-time approach after that.

Oops.

These were much better.

Even with only nine on a pan, two fused together. I separated them gently and lovingly. I did follow the recipe’s suggestion of letting them cool on the pan before moving to the wire rack, and that turned out to be an excellent idea.

After the first few pans, I decided it was time for the cinnamon chips.

I”ll be honest, I have no idea how much of them I used. I just poured some in, mixed, added a few more, mixed, then scooped.

Those turned out great too.

When Robin & James arrived, they smelled the cookies and drifted into the kitchen. I didn’t even have to ask if they wanted one, which made me feel good. I don’t want to feel like I’m FORCING people to eat baked goods (although I will if I have to). I ate one too, and another at dinner, because these are delicious! Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, gently sweet, full of oaty goodness, and I do love the cinnamon chips. I’m going to be making these again & again.

C’mon, look at it. You’d eat one if you walked into my kitchen, right?

WHOLE GRAIN THIN AND CRISPY OATMEAL COOKIES