Cookie baking 101, and the ultimate oatmeal cookie

It is important to have a good oatmeal cookie recipe in your back pocket.  An ordinary oatmeal cookie is easy to come by, but an unusually good oatmeal cookie is a rare gift.  This is a cookie that can make new friends, put people at ease, and cheer up a kid who's having a blue day.  

This is my most-tinkered-with recipe. Twenty years of tinkering to be exact. First, it had to be adapted for baking at 6500 feet.  That took me a while to figure out.  (I'll include a sea level version for you flatlanders).

Next,  I had to get the chocolate just right. Weighing the merits of the different types of chocolate, I settled on a combination of bittersweet (60% cocoa) chips and cocoa nibs.  

Ghirardelli bittersweet chips are extra-large, and melt nicely into the oats.

I'll bet you can't resist the urge to snack on these while you're baking!

Then there's the cocoa nibs.  I've thought a lot about the cocoa nibs.   Cocoa nibs are "raw chocolate", roasted, husked cocoa beans broken into pieces.  They give the oatmeal cookie a bitter, salty edge.  Not too sweet.

Cocoa nibs are 'raw chocolate', bitter if eaten out of hand, but they add a nice dimension to sweets.

Old-fashioned oats make the cookies hearty, with a stick-to-the-ribs quality that makes them the perfect snack in the backcountry, after school, and as the occasional emergency breakfast. 


I was really liking my latest version of Oatmeal Bittersweet Chocolate and Cocoa Nib Cookies, so I tried them out on my foodie friends at a dinner party last week.   When Laura, who has a reputation for her fine desserts,  asked for the recipe after one bite, I knew my recipe was done; no more tinkering.  Laura knows a good cookie when she tastes it.  

Making this Chocolate Ginger Tart was one of the last things Laura did before giving birth to baby Henry. If you want the recipe, see link at the bottom of this post.

Two important techniques will help you achieve the oatmeal cookie of your dreams:
1.  Do not overbake them.  The cookies should be slightly underdone when they come out of the oven.  They will set up if left on the hot cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack.

The cookies are slightly underdone in the middle: time to take them out of the oven.

2.  Chill the dough before you bake.  I know it's difficult to have a big bowl of dough in the refrigerator, and I can never resist the temptation to nosh on the dough all day long.  But resting the dough for several hours relaxes the gluten and evens out the moisture, and chilling the dough will keep the cookies from spreading out in the oven. 

Because the dough was chilled, these cookies did not spread out while baking.

Here are a few more tips about baking cookies in general:
1.  Use unsalted butter, and let it soften to room temperature.  It's just right when you can make a dent in it with your finger.  It shouldn't be so soft that it can't sit up straight.
2.  Use room temperature eggs, too.  My house tends to be cold this time of year, so I put the eggs in a glass of warm tap water while I assemble the rest of the ingredients (Mis en Place, remember?).  It only takes a few minutes for the eggs to warm up.

3.  Use an oven thermometer.  At high altitudes, baked goods sometimes need a hotter oven to come out right.  If your cookies aren't perfect, increase the oven temperature by 5-10 degrees Farenheit the next time you make them.
4.  Use sea salt or kosher salt for better flavor, especially when baking with chocolate and vanilla.
5.  Cream the butter and the sugars thoroughly; don't be afraid to give your standing mixer a work-out.  But once you add the flour, mix gently.  If you overmix the dough at this point, it will be tough.  It helps to mix initially with the standing mixer on low for just a few turns, then finish the job by hand.  Mix just until the flour is incorporated.  
6.  Most cookie doughs will benefit from a few hours of resting in the fridge.  I like to make my cookie dough one day, and bake the cookies the next.  I have to hide the dough from myself and others, but it's worth it. 

Butter softened just to room temperature will cream better. If left out too long though, it will make your cookies flat.

Oatmeal bittersweet chocolate and cocoa nib cookies

This recipe has been adapted to Jackson Hole altitudes, around 6500 feet.  If you live below 5000 feet, use the low altitude amounts in parentheses.

The cocoa nibs can be omitted if you don't like the bitter taste.  Also, feel free to use semisweet chocolate chips instead of bittersweet, or use a combination of the two. 

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (1 3/4 cups at lower altitudes)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• heaping 1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
• 1 1/8 cups packed light brown sugar (1 1/4 cups at lower altitudes)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• scant 1/2 cup sugar (1/2 cup at lower altitudes).
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3 Tbsp. milk (2 Tbsp. at lower altitudes)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup cocoa nibs, crushed into small pieces (if you are new to cocoa nibs, try the smaller amount...it's an acquired taste).

A scant 1/2 cup of sugar is basically 1/2 cup minus 2 Tbsp. Using less sugar in a recipe is one method of improving results at high altitude.

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  
2. Using a standing mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter with the brown and white sugars until creamy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, the milk and the vanilla extract.
3. Scrape the bowl down with a plastic spatula, and beat a bit more.
4. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing gently with each addition.  Do not overmix!
5. Add the oats, chocolate chips, and cocoa nibs.  Mix gently, just until incorporated.  Finish mixing by hand if needed.
6. Chill the dough in the refrigerator, if you have time.
7. Drop by rounded heaping tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicon mat.  An ice cream scoop works nicely for this.
8. Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit, 10-14 minutes.  Watch closely just before the 10 minute mark; your oven may bake more quickly than mine.
9. Remove the cookies when they are just a bit underdone, brown on the edges, and a bit gooey in the middle.  Let sit on the hot cookie sheet for another few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

An ice cream scoop makes nice big, uniformly sized cookies.

To make Laura's Chocolate Ginger Tart, go to http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Dark-Chocolate-Tart-with-Gingersnap-Crust-240695

Jackson Whole Grocer usually carries cocoa nibs. 

Here's your culinary word of the day....

Muddle:  To mash or crush ingredients with a spoon or muddler (a rod with a flattened end).  Usually identified with the preparation of mixed drinks, such as when mint leaves and sugar are muddled together for a Mojito.


from The Deluxe Food Lover's Companion, by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst