Best Oatmeal Cookies

I really love the idea of using what you either like or have on hand to make these oatmeal cookies. I chose to use butter and shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar, apple pie spice, vanilla, and coconut. Using a 1/4-cup measuring cup, this recipe produced 18 huge cookies. Brilliant idea, best cookie!

In the world of baking, there are few recipes that offer freedom of choice when it comes to ingredients and their quantities. Baking is such a precise science that people often feel intimidated substituting one ingredient for another. This foolproof recipe, however, instills confidence in home bakers, allowing them to feel like they’ve created something amazing to call their own. Below are the choices that I made to customize my “Make-It-Mine” Best Oatmeal Cookies.

Fat: 1 stick unsalted butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter
Sugar: 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar
Spice: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Flavoring: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Flour: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
Stir-In: Chopped toasted pecans
Yield: I used a 1/2-inch scoop and the recipe made 34 cookies

These cookies were unbelievable, and they barely made it a day past the day they were baked! The texture was to die for—crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I loved them! You can clearly identify the peanut butter in the cookies, though it’s not the predominant flavor, and it definitely doesn’t overpower the cookie. The oatmeal offers a chewy bite that's pure heaven, and the flavors of the oatmeal and peanut butter balance each other perfectly. I’m looking forward to playing with this recipe again and again and customizing it differently each time. I might however, find it hard to stray from the amazing combination that I created.

My family and co-workers loved my version of these cookies. I can't wait to try this recipe with other options. I love that you can make these so many ways. If you enjoy oatmeal cookies like I do, then you'll have fun with this recipe. Here's how I made mine:

Fat: Butter and peanut butter
Sugar: Brown and granulated
Spice: Cinnamon
Flavoring: Coconut
Flour: All-purpose and whole-wheat
Stir-ins: None
Measuring device: Cookie scoop (This yielded 38 cookies that were perfectly baked at 14 minutes.)

This recipe for best oatmeal cookies is the Choose Your Own Adventure books of the cookie world—except you’ll end up with a delicious cookie each time instead of an abrupt ending forcing you to backtrack to get the ending you really wanted. I went simple for my first go-round of this recipe. I used butter and shortening, brown sugar and granulated sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour, and skipped the stir-in (I couldn’t decide between walnuts, chocolate, or coconut). I was feeling rather grandiose, so I used my big 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, resulting in 22 huge cookies. Using a scoop that big, I should've put only 9 cookies on each baking sheet instead of 12, so they ran together just a bit. Baking time was closer to 16 or 17 minutes with cookies that big. To me, oatmeal cookies should be big, chewy, and not too sweet, and these were perfect! And what’s even better is that I can make choices based on my “needs” and what’s in my pantry. I predict a monster-type cookie in my future!

There is nothing better than a recipe that allows me to use what I already have in my pantry. After searching the cupboards, I found butter, maple extract, brown and granulated sugars, unbleached flour, and chocolate chips. I used a medium-sized cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons per scoop.) Choosing my own cookie scoop size did require I watch the baking time. This scoop size took 12 minutes to bake delightful, golden-brown oatmeal cookies. The yield for this size cookie scoop was 38 cookies.

These cookies were fun to assemble and tasted delicious—they are indeed the best oatmeal cookies. I chose butter and shortening; brown sugar and white sugar; cinnamon; vanilla; all-purpose flour; and a mixture of chocolate chips and coconut. I also used regular rolled oats, because we love that nuttiness in cookies. Mine spread out some when baked because of the butter. I made them in 1-tablespoon sizes that yielded 42 to 44 cookies and baked in 10 to 12 minutes. The cookies were delightfully chewy and crispy at the same time. I baked 1 sheet of cookies on an unbuttered baking sheet and another on parchment paper. The batch on parchment came off so much easier, and none of the cookies broke when removed. I will use parchment paper in the future. The recipe for these quick and simple cookies will stay close at hand for future batches! I think the grandchildren will enjoy making their own choices for their "personalized oatmeal cookies."

These cookies were fun to make. I chose the peanut butter/butter option for the fat, molasses and granulated sugar, whole-wheat and all-purpose flour, cinnamon, vanilla, and some chocolate chips. My testing friends thought the cookies were delicious. The molasses did overpower the peanut butter flavor, and the cinnamon was more of a scent than a distinguishable taste. I ended up using a small 1 1/2-teaspoon cookie scoop and ended up with 59 cookies. I did eat some of the batter, so the recipe would've yielded at least 1 or 2 more cookies. I needed to press the cookies down a bit, as they didn't spread, possibly because I used homemade peanut butter or because the cookies didn't need the additional 1/4 cup flour specified in the sugar/molasses combo. I think that it would be fun to try different combinations (maybe even some that aren't listed, such as coconut oil, candied ginger, or whatever strikes your fancy and is in the pantry).

For me, this merits a Tester's Choice for the simple reason that 3 members of my family, all at different times, took a bite of a cookie and said, "These cookies are so-o-o-o darn good. You need to make them more often!" It was enjoyable to customize the cookies to my taste and to my family's taste. I chose to use all butter for my fat portion because, for me, there's nothing better than the flavor of butter. I used 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated, which I guess is pretty standard for most cookies. For spice, I used Vietnamese cinnamon and added a little pumpkin pie spice. I used vanilla extract. And for flour, I chose 1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup oat bran. The stir-ins I chose were mixed dried fruit—maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup total of currants, chopped dates, and dried cranberries. I used a cookie scoop to make my cookies, and the recipe yielded 3 dozen. (Of course, there was a little dough tasting going on, so I suppose I could've had a couple more.)

Oatmeal cookies happen to be my most favorite cookie ever. I love the texture, the raisins, the spices. I went through the lists and chose my ultimate cookie—butter, 2:1 brown: white sugar, allspice, coconut flavoring, and all-purpose flour. I must say that the end result was pretty darn good. I used the small squeeze scoop (approximately 1 tablespoon) and baked the cookies for 10 full minutes. They were still shiny at 9 minutes and not cooked enough, even for me (I tend to under-bake items for maximum moistness). The yield was 69 cookies. They were chewy goodness, even when cooled. I tried one fresh out of the oven, slightly warm and then again when completely cooled and was very pleased. Next time, I want to try pumpkin pie or apple pie spice, as I usually put cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg in my old recipe. They will make these wonderful cookies absolutely awesome.

What I like most about this best oatmeal cookies recipe are the many easy substitution options it provides. Based on what I had in the pantry, I "made it mine" with butter and shortening, brown sugar and white sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and butterscotch chips. I used a tablespoon cookie scoop and baked them for 9 minutes. The recipe made 50 cookies. The first batch went in the oven right after mixing, and they spread a lot, resulting in a thin, slightly chewy cookie. I decided to put the dough in the fridge for a few hours, and while it did help a little, the dough still spread quite a bit. Although I usually prefer a thicker cookie, these found a way to disappear in our house!

This recipe does turn out the best oatmeal cookies. How fun it is to follow a recipe—but not! Freedom, at last. It's educational as well. We were given options for fat, sugar, spices and stir-ins. I would've liked even more options and will venture back into the kitchen to try a few other ideas. But for our purposes with this particular recipe, I chose 2 sticks of butter, softened to 65 to 67 degrees, 1 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, flour, 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup toasted chopped pecans, and, of course, the 3 cups oatmeal. I used a rounded tablespoon (about 1 ounce each) to scoop the cookies, and it yielded 42 cookies. The cookies took 11 minutes to bake, and I turned the trays around and switched positions after 6 minutes. I left them on the tray for 2 minutes, as suggested by the recipe, then transferred the quite soft cookies to the cooling rack. They never crisped. If I had melted the butter, which would've evaporated some of the water from it, then the cookies would have been crisp. Leaving the cookies on the warm cookie tray for a couple of minutes tends to make them softer as well. They were deliciously chewy and flavorful. I took the cookies to the Lakers game (I was in the chairman's room, which is the pre-game area for VIPs), and I gave a bunch to the staff that works in our apartment building. Everyone rated the cookies 8+. And when I asked what would make these cookies a 10, the answers were all over the place: "oatmeal cookies need raisins"; "chocolate"; "crisper"; "sweeter"; "more oatmeal." The next time I make these, I'm going to try 1/2 butter with 1/2 coconut oil, which may make the cookies crisper but keep them chewy. I'll also add chopped dried apricots and coconut flakes to make them sweeter. And I'll change it all up again the next time. You just can't go wrong whichever way you want to make these. What a great recipe to make with kids and a delicious way to experiment with different ingredients. Make this recipe and you'll become a better, more experienced cook!

I made these oatmeal cookies because cookies are always a hit in my house, and I liked the pick-your-options style of the recipe. I used the mixture of butter and peanut butter (all natural, nothing but ground peanuts), mix of white and brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and vanilla. For the mix-in, I used slightly over 1 cup white and mini semisweet chocolate chips. I couldn't pick just one. The recipe came together easily. I used my stand mixer for all the steps through the mix-ins and didn't run into any problems. I used a cookie scoop, approximately 1 rounded tablespoon in size. I got 44 cookies out of the recipe. Probably would've gotten 46 if the dough hadn't tasted so good. That's one of the best parts of making cookies, though! Some of the combinations sounded a little strange to me. I would've tried them anyway, but I didn't have them on hand. The cinnamon and peanut butter I used was an interesting yet tasty combo. Overall, I had no issues with the recipe and would make it again!

Fun recipe with lots of choices! I needed a quick and easy dessert recipe to bring to a party last night, and I broke the first-try-new-recipes-at-home rule. This recipe didn’t let me down. My variation incorporated butter, gluten-free “Cup-4-Cup Wholesome”, brown sugar/turbinado reduced to 1 1/4 cups, cinnamon, vanilla, pecans, and toasted coconut. These are seriously addictive.