These Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies are a quandary for me.
I dreamt up the recipe one day and decided to just bake it up without looking at any other recipes in books or online.
Once I’d made the dough, which I felt was pretty standard in texture and tasted good too (yes, I taste my raw cookie dough!), I baked up a test batch after letting them chill for an hour.
Cookie dough is almost always better if you let it chill for at least an hour.
Holy disappointment! Once baked, the cookies were puffy and very “cakey”. When they cooled, the only thing saving their dryness was a very large glass of milk.
Even James, who is not one to be overly picky about his baked goods, was pretty much all, “Not your best work, sadly..”
Glad I don’t take rejection too hard, hey? While the first batch baked, I had worked ahead portioning out the dough balls. I’m not one to waste food.
Knowing that James’s coworkers will eat just about anything, so long as there’s sugar, butter, and chocolate involved, I resolved to bake up the rest of the cookies when I next had a free naptime.
That free naptime didn’t come until TWO days later. And what came out of my oven shocked both The Brit and me.
These cookies were completely, and I mean completely different. Sure, they still puffed instead of flattened. But the similarities ended there.
The flavors in the cookies are deeper, richer – which I would expect after 2 days in the refrigerator – but what I didn’t expect was the doughy, almost fudgy texture of a Levain bakery cookie in my mouth.
Now, I’ve claimed to make Levain copycat cookies before, and I had absolutely cracked their crunchy exterior (it’s cornstarch).
But I think I’ve cracked another of their secrets; along with adding cornstarch to the dough, they must make their dough ahead of time, and allow it to “cure” for a few days.
I wouldn’t believe days in the refrigerator could change a cookie so completely if I hadn’t experienced it myself. I beg you to try these just once.
As for me, I’m going to take this idea and run with it – going back to my copycat Levain recipe and giving it some solid intimacy with the inside of my refrigerator. We’re getting closer, folks!
Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies are completely addicting. Such a wonderful snack, dessert, and party treat!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar , packed
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon buttery sweet dough emulsion , from King Arthur Flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1 cup mixed chocolate and white chips
Instructions
Beat butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks and beat again until well incorporated and again light and fluffy in color.
Add sweet dough emulsion and vanilla extract and beat again. If you don’t have sweet dough emulsion, simply double up on the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, oats, and baking soda. Whisk to combine and aerate.
Add dry ingredients to the wet in increments, mixing on low speed after each addition, and scraping the sides of the bowl.
Once dry ingredients are completely incorporated, remove bowl from the stand mixer and mix in almonds and chocolate chips by hand.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 days. You may portion out the dough balls first if you like, rather than after the dough has chilled, as it will be easier to do so with just-made dough.
To bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Place 12 dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Beat butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg yolks and beat again until well incorporated and again light and fluffy in color.
Add sweet dough emulsion and vanilla extract and beat again. If you don’t have sweet dough emulsion, simply double up on the vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, oats, and baking soda. Whisk to combine and aerate.
Add dry ingredients to the wet in increments, mixing on low speed after each addition, and scraping the sides of the bowl.
Once dry ingredients are completely incorporated, remove bowl from the stand mixer and mix in almonds and chocolate chips by hand.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 days. You may portion out the dough balls first if you like, rather than after the dough has chilled, as it will be easier to do so with just-made dough.
To bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Place 12 dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
katie
Monday 24th of March 2014
oh these cookies sound divine!
Kathryn
Friday 21st of March 2014
How interesting that the texture could change so much on the basis of a couple of days in the fridge - I'm definitely going to try this with my next batch of cookies and see the effect!