Decadent Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Elevate the flavor of these cookies with brown butter, and boost the fiber content with oat flour. Decandence you can feel good about.

I recently held a kitchen lab called "Simple Techniques, Elegent Results, where our group learned how to make brown butter, elegant sauces and a few other tricks to make an ordinary recipe extra special. A lot of the participants wanted to know how they could use these special ingredients in every day cooking. Here's one delicious way to use brown butter.

If you don't know how to make brown butter, it's an easy process, but you need patience, because it takes 7-10 minutes from start to finish to get the desired results. Watch me demonstrate how to make it in my video here.

Once you've made the brown butter, it will need to cool off and start to solidify again. This takes about 15-20 minutes in the refrigerator, or just a bit longer if you leave it out at room temperature. Either way, the brown butter should be easily mixed with the brown butter. Your finished product should look something like this:

Once your butter is ready, you're ready to make the cookies! Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cream together butter and brown sugar, then add egg and vanilla. Add oat flour if using.

A note about oat flour. My recipe calls for oat flour because I wanted to make a recipe that bumps up the fiber and whole grain content, thus increasing the nutrients and allowing for a slower rise in blood glucose, if that's an issue for you. I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in my early 20's, though I'm sure I developed it much earlier due to my poor diet and obesity. I have since brought it under control and maintain a healthy blood sugar level with diet and exercise - no more insulin after making some adjustments to my diet and losing a little weight! I learned that even if I have a long way to go to reach my goal, even small changes such as substituting whole grain flour for refined flour and increasing fiber content can make a big difference!

Back to the oat flour. If you don't have any on hand, don't go out and buy some. It can be a little pricey if you're only using it every now and then for a recipe or two. Besides, if you have regular oats on hand, you can make your own oat flour at home. I demonstrate how in this video:

Back to our cookie recipe. After adding your oat flour (or whatever flour you're using), add in the baking soda, a pinch of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg (if you're using it). Blend until just incorporated. Next, stir in oats, nuts and chocolate chips.

Place by rounded Tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet. I like to line the cookie sheets with my silicone baking mats, but have also used parchment paper as well for easier cleanup.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 8-12 minutes (I check after 8 minutes). Remove from oven when cookies are lightly browned and just set. Allow to sit on cookie sheet for another 2-5 minutes to set up, and then remove and allow to finish cooling on cooling racks. Store in an airtight container.

Finally, here is the recipe. Enjoy, and be sure to comment and let me know how you like it, or if you made any adjustments. Enjoy!

Decadent Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

½ cup softened brown butter
¾ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup oat flour (you can also use all-purpose flour, or grind regular oatmeal into oat flour, show here)
Pinch salt
½ tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg (optional)
1 ½ cups quick oats
¼ cup chopped pecans, almonds, walnuts or cashews (optional)
½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

Brown butter (see demo). Set in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes (do not allow the butter to solidify completely, but it should not be liquid - you should be able to easily mix it with the sugar).
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Add egg and combine.
Add vanilla.
Add flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg
Stir in oats, pecans if using, and chocolate chips. Do not over-mix or batter will become tough.
Scoop dough by the Tablespoon about 2” apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use parchment paper or silicone baking mats for easy cleanup.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.
Allow to sit on the cookie sheet 1-2 minutes before removing to cooling racks.
Store in an airtight container.