Big and Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
If you are looking for a satisfyingly delicious Big & Chewy Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies - you came to the right spot! Perfectly soft, chewy with crisp edges. Very simple to make, lightly spiced, loaded with the good stuff and great for any occasion - snacking, a sweet treat or an edible gift. They come together quickly with only the very basic ingredients that make for a great cookie! Never under estimate a simple classic - soft chewy loaded with oats, butter, nuts, dried fruit, chunks of chocolate, sugar and spice! This is one of our favorite cookies to make all year round, satisfying and delicious - a total keeper! If you are looking for a more classic oatmeal cookie recipe make sure to check out my Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies.
I came across one of the most satisfying and delicious cookies at a coffee shop (Mos mos coffee) downtown when I popped in while I was doing some volunteer work in the area. I always grab a coffee and one of these cookies called “fitness cookies”. I have no idea where the name comes from but I guess they could easily be a great pre or post workout snack. The cookie is sort of filling and just sweet enough and loaded with chopped almonds, chopped dark chocolate and dried blueberries. Yes not your typical combination but trust me it works so well. Dried blueberries are almost as expensive as fresh ones out of season - but if you are willing to splurge I do totally recommend it. I tested a couple different recipes before I landed on this one and I have to say these are even better than the ones at the coffee shop - we love ‘em and hope you do too!
Oatmeal Cookie Recipe Ingredients
- FLOUR: All purpose flour or a good quality gluten free 1-1 all purpose flour can be used in this recipe
- OATS: Use old-fashioned oats/old fashioned rolled oats for these cookies - I don’t use quick oats in these cookies - old fashion oats have way better texture
- BUTTER: Unsalted butter is what you need for this recipe and room temperature but not warm or overly soft.
- SUGAR: Both granulated sugar and brown sugar is used in this recipe for best flavor and texture
- EGG: 1 large egg - and room temp
- BAKING SODA: Helps the cookies rise.
- CORNSTARCH: A little goes a long way - cornstarch helps make these cookies more tender. Don’t skip it even though it may seem Unusual - it helps make these cookies tender and soft in the middle
- VANILLA & SALT: I use pure vanilla extract. Both provide flavor
- SPICES: Ground cinnamon adds just a hint of spice but feel free to adjust amount to taste and I also like to add a little ground nutmeg, if you would like more warming spice feel free to add more or less of each.
- MOLASSES: Molasses creates a moist consistency in baked goods. It’s an optional add in but makes a nice and chewy cookie. You could use honey in its place
- DRIED BLUEBERRIES: I love the combination of flavours in these cookies with the dried blueberries - but feel free to us any dried fruit you like like raisins, currants, dried cherries etc
- ALMONDS: I use raw almonds and I rough chop them so you have big pieces of almonds in the cookies - feel free to swap them for other nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts) or leave out if you have nut allergies
- CHOCOLATE: I use chopped chocolate either dark chocolate or semi sweet chocolate - you could use chocolate chips but you won’t get that chunky add-in-effect in your cookies.
How to Make Classic Oatmeal Cookies
They are quick and easy to make.
- WHISK the dry ingredients together: flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cornstarch. Set aside.
- CREAM the butter with the sugars until fluffy. Careful not to soften butter fully or to warm it. Semi-firm butter is best and will help cookies spread less.
- ADD the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined
- MIX/FOLD in the almonds, dried blueberries and the chocolate
- CHILL dough uncovered in mixing bowl while you preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 sheet trays
- SCOOP out the dough ⅓ cup balls.
- ROLL the dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet.
- BAKE the cookies 15 min then remove and lightly flatten peaks and bake for 3-4 min mores until edges are set and golden brown. The centre will still look unset and that is fine - they will continue to bake even after coming out of the oven while they sit on the hot baking sheet. Make sure to bake them with the oven rack placed in the middle of the oven.
- Allow them to COOL in the baking pan 5-10 minutes and then transfer them directly to cooling rack to cool completely.
Do I Need To Chill The Cookie Dough?
NO, but if you want you cookies to spread less creating thicker chewier cookies I recommend chilling the dough just until your oven is preheated and you get your sheet pans lined and ready. I like to chill the dough in between baking batches as well. You can chill the dough longer but if you do you may need to bake the cookies for an extra minute or so. I also recommend chilling the dough for those few minutes especially if your kitchen its particularly hot.
Oatmeal Cookie Baking Tips
Cookies can be a bit finicky sometimes. You have all your ingredients and you have read through all the directions carefully and then you bake them and they are not quite right and you just don’t know what went wrong. Here are a few things to help trouble shoot when baking a fresh batch. Each recipe can have a slight variation and that is why it’s important to try and stick as closely to the directions in the recipe. There are a few things that can effect the baking time and things to keep in mind.
- Measuring Carefully: Measure out all your ingredients carefully for best results - that goes for all baking. I always use standard Anchor Hocking Glass Measuring Cups - the ones most people have. I don’t like the scoop kinds because I have found they allow for too much variance. Too much sugar gives you flat cookies. Too much Flour creates dry cookies, too much sugar can cause cookies to spread etc…
- Size Matters: The size you make the cookies will affect the baking time. Making them larger than the recipe calls for will require longer baking time and vice versa.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: This is important for the ingredients to combine well. For the butter it’s important that it is room temperature - not warmer overly softened as this will affect the way the cookies bake up. If you are pushing your finger into it you should not be able to sink right down to the bottom of the stick - just make a nice indent. If it’s runny or too soft your cookies will spread.
- Oven rack placement: It’s important to bake them in the middle of the oven for consistent baking results. Most cookie recipes will let you know specifically where to place the rack - it will affect baking time and could cause cookies to burn if rack is low and baking time isn’t adjusted.
- Baking sheet choice: What you bake them on makes a difference too. Ideally choose a baking pan that is heavy-gauge, dull and light (in colour) aluminum. It doesn’t have to be fancy but the ones to avoid are dark nonstick ones and the very thin ones. The dark ones absorb extra heat – which causes cookies to burn or over-brown. The thin cookie sheets warp easily which means they’ll heat unevenly affecting the baking time on your cookies. Also never place cookie dough balls on warm baking sheet - cookies will spread.
- Preheating your oven: I can’t stress this enough - make sure your oven is preheated and actually reaches the temperature needed. Using an oven thermometer will ensure this.
Oatmeal Cookies Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
- MAKE AHEAD: You can make the dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then bake as normal.
- STORAGE: Baked and cooled cookies can be stored in and airtight conainer for up to 1 week.
- FREEZING DOUGH: Place dough into a large ziploc bag and flatten. Freeze up to 3 months. Let dough defrost fully (overnight in the fridge is ideal), and then continue with baking instructions.
- FREEZING DOUGH BALLS: Scoop and roll cookie dough into balls and place on lined baking sheet - place in the freezer on baking sheet a flash freeze for 1-3 hours until frozen solid. Then remove from baking sheet and place in a freezer safe bag and place back in the freezer and store for up to 3 months. Let cookies defrost to soften when ready to bake – then continue with baking directions in recipe below or bake from frozen baking them for an extra few minutes.
- FREEZING BAKED COOKIES: Allow cookies to cool completely then store in a freezer-safe zip-lock storage bag labelled. They can either be stored all together as is or individually wrapped or separated with waxed paper or parchment. When you want to eat one, take it out and let it sit at room temperature or warm it in the oven or microwave for a few minutes.
More Classic Cookie Recipes You Will Love
Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon molasses or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 1½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¾ cup dried blueberries (or any dried fruit: raisins, cranberries etc)
- ½ cup chopped raw almonds
- ½ cup chopped dark chocolate (chocolate chunks)
Directions
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, vanilla and molasses. Beat until completely smooth. (use a stand mixer with paddle attachment or use a hand mixer)
- Add in the dry mixture/flour mixture and mix until just combined, a few streaks of flour is fine.
- Add in the dried berries, almonds, and chopped chocolate and fold/stir in gently until combined.
- Chill dough in the fridge as is uncovered in the mixing bowl while you preheat the oven to 350°F and line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper. I keep the dough chilled between baking batches too.
- Once oven is preheated remove cookie dough from fridge. Portion cookie dough into ⅓ cup balls and roll in between palms to make round. It will make exactly 8 cookies.
- Bake 4 on a tray, 1 tray at a time. Space evenly and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove baking sheet from oven carefully and press down lightly on the cookies (to gently flatten the middle peak) and return tray to oven and bake for another 3-4 minutes. The cookies may look slightly under baked in the middle but the edges and tops of cookies will be lightly golden brown.
- Let cool on being sheet over wire rack for 5 minutes then transfer cookies to cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
