Inspired by the Everything but the Kitchen Sink cookie mix from Trader Joes these everything oatmeal cookies have it all - oats, chocolate chunks, pretzel bits, coconut flakes, caramel chips and toasted walnuts.
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I don't usually, really never, make cookies from a mix. They are so easy to make from scratch but the everything oatmeal cookies mix from Trader Joes piqued my curiosity.
I love a good loaded oatmeal cookie and the TJ's ones were really good for a box mix, but I knew I could improve upon them. I didn't care for the caramel bits they used - all the caramel melted out of the cookies and was super hard when cooled and the mix didn't make very many cookies.
And when I make cookies, I always make a few dozen. Or more.
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Ingredients
These are a straightforward, chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe with a lot of fun additional mix-ins.
- unsalted butter
- Sugar - white and light brown
- Large eggs plus one large yolk
- Vanilla extract
- All purpose flour
- Quick cooking oats
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Mix-ins:
- Chocolate, semi sweet or dark, chopped
- Caramel chips (butterscotch would also work)
- Walnuts
- Pretzels
- Flaked coconut, unsweetened (not super fine desiccated that is almost a powder, or super large chips. These would be too big.) Like Goldilocks, you want them "just right".
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
These are pretty straight forward oatmeal cookies. Mix the "wet" ingredients together. Whisk together the dry. Combine the two until no more streaks of flour remain then add in all the mix-ins.
- Combine all the mix-ins together. It looks like A LOT, but it all mixes in just fine.
- Cream butter and sugars together, add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, spices and salt and combine with the butter mixer. Then slowly add in the mix ins. CHILL the dough at least 2 hours up to overnight to fully hydrate the dough.
- Scoop cookie dough balls ( I use a # scoop, each ball is about 40 grams) and then I gently press before sprinkling with flake salt
- Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, with tray placed on an oven rack in the upper ⅓ of the oven (not the top rack but just below). Rotate trays halfway through baking if the cookies in the back of the tray are starting to brown before the front ones are.
Hint: Chilling the dough helps hydrate the flour and oats for a chewy cookie. Not letting chill might result in a more dry cookie.
Substitutions
You can easily substitute some of the ingredients to suit your specific dietary needs such as
Gluten Free - sub gluten free all purpose flour for the regular all purpose flour ( use a brand you are familiar with)
Dairy - You can swap the butter for a non-dairy butter, make sure the chocolate you are using is also non-dair
No eggs - I haven't personally ever baked without eggs so I cannot suggest any substitutions here. If you are familiar with egg substitutions please do so at your own risk.
Everything Oatmeal Cookie Variations:
Since these are "everything" oatmeal cookies you can really add in anything you like
- Chocolate- I like doing a combo of chopped chocolate for those melty pools and chocolate chips. Feel free to use any combination you like.
- Caramel chips - Butterscotch, white chocolate or even peanut butter chips would work here if you can't find caramel
- Nuts - You can swap out the walnuts for pistachios pecans, macadamia nuts etc.
- Dried fruit - you could add in dried raisins, cherries, cranberries etc. if you like.
Two of my favorite variations of oatmeal cookies are my White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies and my Soft Spiced Apple Oatmeal Cookies.
Cookie making equipment:
- Food Scale - see bottom of post why weight is better than volume measurements for baking.
- Mixing Bowls
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheets
- Cookie Scoop
- Spatula
- Cooling Racks
Cookie Storage:
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to a week. In the freezer up to three months.
Pro Tip:
Don't forget to sprinkle the flake salt on top before baking. I love using Pure Alaska flake sea salt or Maldon.
Top Tip:
Don't over bake the cookies. If anything you want to just slightly underbake, they will firm up more once cooled but stay chewy for days. If you over bake you will have a very crunchy cookie.
Related
Looking for other oatmeal cookie recipes like this? Try these:
Recipe:
Chewy Everything Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Food Scale one that measures in grams (see blog post for other equipment)
Ingredients
- Wet:
- 225 g unsalted butter, cool room temp
- 100 g granulated white sugar
- 200 g brown sugar
- 2 large eggs plus one large yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Dry:
- 196 g all purpose flour
- 150 g quick cooking oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ t teaspoon nutmeg
- Mix-ins:
- 100 g chocolate chopped into chunks and shards, semi sweet or dark
- 100 g caramel chips butterscotch would also work
- 100 g walnuts lightly toasted, chopped
- 75 g pretzels chopped into pieces
- 75 g Ffaked coconut unsweetened (not super fine desiccated, or super large flakes)
- Topping:
- flaked sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, or a bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy. 4-5 minutes.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then on a lower speed add in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, until well mixed in, add in the vanilla extract and mix again.
- In a separate bowl, weigh out the flour, sifting if needed, and then add the oats, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and mix on low, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl when necessary, to ensure all the flour is mixed in.
- Add in all of the mix-ins and carefully mix until all is combined. You can use a spatula for this step.
- Chill the dough a minimum of 2 hours up to overnight in a bowl covered with plastic wrap pressed agains the dough and another piece over the rim of the bowl.
- When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 Deg F (180 C) and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop out balls of cookie dough, place a few inches apart on the baking sheet ( I bake six cookies at a time) smoosh down just a little, then sprinkle a few flakes of large flake salt on top.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden and set but the middles still soft.
- Cool in the pan for a couple minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, baking batches while others cool, until all are baked.
- Store in an airtight container. Cookies can also be frozen once baked.
Notes
Weighing ingredients Vs using cups:
I use my food scale and weigh out ingredients in grams because this is the most accurate way to get the best quality baked goods. Cups aren't accurate because not only are all cups not the same the sizes vary from brand to brand as well as from different countries. I have done tests with different brands of measuring cups and they all came out with different weights after I did the spoon and level as well as scoop method and then weighed in grams.
Baking is a science and science needs accuracy. Weighing is accurate and precise. Not to mention a lot easier. Another issue with cups is that I have no control over how people use measuring cups to measure dry ingredients especially flour. You could pack in way too much which would result in a sub-par baked good. Too much flour could throw everything off. Same with not enough. Not to mention also some ingredients are difficult to measure in cups such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate etc. This is why weighing in grams is the most accurate.
I also use grams for most liquid measure since 100 grams equals 100 ml of water. Smaller amounts of items measured in teaspoons I usually leave as teaspoons, tablespoons are sometimes listed in grams as well but for the most part the different tablespoons I have used have all resulted in the same amount. Aside from cute, decorative ceramic tablespoons and teaspoons are never accurate. Those are better as decoration than for being used for baking.
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