I generally try to eat a healthy well-balanced diet free of junk like McDonalds, potato chips, and the Starbucks megacalorie latte of the season. However, I have two major weaknesses. The first is well-known to be ice cream, since I’ve become infamous among friends for consuming pints at a time, especially post-call. My other weakness is the homemade chocolate chip cookie.

I used to rely on the original ‘Tollhouse’ recipe that is ubiquitous on the back of most bags of chocolate chips. I’ve also played with the frequently forwarded ‘Neiman-Marcus chocolate chip cookie’ recipe, but they take forever to make. I’ve always liked to substitute oatmeal for some of the flour in my cookies (so that I can pretend that I’m eating something good for me when I go back for a fifth or sixth cookie).

Recently I stumbled on a different recipe I like even better. I found it in 365 Great Cookies & Brownies by Joanne Lamb Hayes and Bonnie Tandy Lebang. The cookies are so incredibly rich that I, a devotee of the cookie monster, can only eat a few cookies. They are also very quick to make (usually less than an hour from start to finish).

These cookies are made with butter so they spread out really thin and, combined with the oatmeal, make nice and chewy cookies. If youÂ’re like my mom and prefer a thicker cookie, you could partially substitute shortening for the butter. For the geeks among us, the shortening has a higher melting point and thus doesn’t allow the cookie to spread as much.

I’ve also used this recipe substituting cranberries for chocolate chips. Barrett insists that the cranberry cookies are even better than the original recipe. I still prefer chocolate chips. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 extra large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Kahlua (or other coffee-flavored liqueur)
1 cup (6oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stir dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, and salt) together in a small bowl and then set aside.

In large bowl, combine butter, white sugar, and brown sugar using an electric mixer until creamy. Then add in egg, vanilla extra, and Kahlua until creamy. Then slowly add small portion of the dry mixture blending thoroughly before adding the next small amount. Finally, add chocolate chips until just mixed through.

Drop 1-2 teaspoon mounds of cookie dough onto cookie sheet approximately 2 inches apart. Be sure each mound is equally sized so that that all the cookies will be done at the same time. Bake in an oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown throughout. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet approximately 2-3 minutes before further cooling on cooling rack.

This recipe usually makes about 24 cookies for me, even after I sample the dough a couple times.

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[Via Too Many Chefs]