The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (292 page)

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

It’s easy to get carried away and overload cookie dough with a crazy jumble of ingredients, resulting in a poorly textured cookie monster. Our ultimate oatmeal cookie would have just the right amount of added ingredients and an ideal texture—crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle. We wanted to add four flavor components—sweet, tangy, nutty, and chocolaty—to the underlying oat flavor. Bittersweet chocolate, dried sour cherries (or cranberries), and toasted pecans gave the right balance of flavors. We also analyzed the cookie dough ingredients and discovered that cookies made with brown sugar were moister and chewier than cookies made with granulated sugar. A combination of baking powder and baking soda (we doubled the usual amount) produced cookies that were light and crisp on the outside, but chewy, dense, and soft in the center. Finally, we focused on appearance to decide when to remove the cookies from the oven—they should be set but still look wet between the fissures; if they look matte rather than shiny, they’ve been overbaked.

MAKES ABOUT 16 LARGE COOKIES

We like these cookies made with pecans and dried sour cherries, but walnuts or skinned hazelnuts can be substituted for the pecans and dried cranberries for the cherries. Quick oats used in place of the old-fashioned oats will yield a cookie with slightly less chewiness.

1.
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, stir oats, pecans, cherries, and chocolate together.

3.
Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 1 minute, scraping down bowl as needed. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Gradually add oat-nut mixture; mix until just incorporated. Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4.
Working with ¹⁄
₄
cup of dough at a time, roll into balls and place 2¹⁄
₂
inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Press dough to 1-inch thickness using bottom of greased measuring cup. Bake until cookies are medium brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will seem underdone and will appear raw, wet, and shiny in cracks) 20 to 22 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through baking.

5.
Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Thin and crispy oatmeal cookies can be irresistible—crunchy and delicate, these cookies really let the flavor of the oats take center stage. But the usual ingredients that give thick, chewy oatmeal cookies great texture—generous amounts of sugar and butter, a high ratio of oats to flour, a modest amount of leavener, eggs, raisins, and nuts—won’t all fit in a thin, crispy cookie. We wanted to adjust the standard ingredients to create a crispy, delicate cookie in which the simple flavor of buttery oats really stands out. Given this cookie’s simplicity, creating a rich butter flavor was critical, so we kept almost the same amount of butter as in our standard big, chewy oatmeal cookie, but we scaled back the amount of sugar. Fine-tuning the amount and type of leavener led to a surprising result that solved our texture and shape problems. During baking, large carbon dioxide bubbles created by the baking soda and baking powder (upped from our traditional recipe) caused the cookies to puff up, collapse, and spread out, producing the thin, flat cookies we were looking for. Baking the cookies all the way through until they were fully set and evenly browned from center to edge made them crisp throughout but not tough.

MAKES ABOUT 24 COOKIES

Do not use instant or quick oats.

1.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

2.
Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar at medium-low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute longer, scraping down bowl as needed. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just incorporated and smooth, about 10 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oats and mix until well incorporated, about 20 seconds. Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

3.
Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll into balls and place 2¹⁄
₂
inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using fingertips, gently press each dough ball to ³⁄
₄
-inch thickness.

4.
Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are deep golden brown, edges are crisp, and centers yield to slight pressure when pressed, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack and let cookies cool completely.

Decrease oats to 2 cups and add 1¹⁄
₂
cups sweetened flaked coconut to batter with oats in step 2.

Beat 2 teaspoons grated orange zest with butter and sugars in step 2. Decrease oats to 2 cups and add 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted almonds to batter with oats in step 2.

We prefer the texture and flavor of a coarse-grained sea salt, like Maldon or fleur de sel, but kosher salt can be used. If using kosher salt, reduce the amount sprinkled over the cookies to ¹⁄
₄
teaspoon.

Reduce amount of salt in dough to ¹⁄
₄
teaspoon. Lightly sprinkle ¹⁄
₂
teaspoon coarse sea salt evenly over flattened dough balls before baking.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Big, moist, and craggy, oatmeal cookies are so good and so comforting, but also so hard to get just right. Too often, they have textural issues and are dry and brittle; other times, it’s the flavor that’s off, with cookies that lack any sign of oatiness. We wanted an oversized cookie with buttery oat flavor and the utmost chewiness. After numerous rounds of testing, we discovered three key changes that made a significant difference in the research recipes we uncovered. First, we substituted baking powder for baking soda. The baking powder gave the dough more lift, which in turn made the cookies less dense and a bit chewier. Second, we eliminated the cinnamon recommended in lots of recipes; by taking away the cinnamon, we revealed more oat flavor. We wanted some spice, however, and chose nutmeg, which has a cleaner, subtler flavor that we like with oats. Finally, we increased the sugar in our cookies, and this made a huge difference in terms of texture and moistness.

MAKES ABOUT 18 LARGE COOKIES

If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the granulated sugar to ³⁄
₄
cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not use instant or quick oats. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown, but the rest of the cookie should be very light in color.

1.
Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together in medium bowl; set aside.

2.
Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined, about 30 seconds.

3.
Reduce speed to low and slowly add dry ingredients until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in oats and raisins, if using, until just incorporated. Give dough final stir to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4.
Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

5.
Bake until cookies turn golden brown around edges, 22 to 25 minutes, switching and rotating baking sheets halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

Substitute 1¹⁄
₂
cups chopped dates for raisins.

Omit raisins and add ³⁄
₄
teaspoon ground ginger.

Substitute 1¹⁄
₂
cups semisweet chocolate chips for raisins.

The almonds can be ground in a food processor or blender.

Omit raisins, decrease flour to 1¹⁄
₃
cups, and add ¹⁄
₄
cup ground almonds and 1 cup chopped walnuts along with oats.

Omit raisins and add 2 tablespoons grated orange zest and 1 cup chopped toasted almonds along with oats.