Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sunday is one of my favorite days. I usually don't have a huge agenda. We go to church, and come home to "Sunday resting time". This is a new tradition my husband and I started. It was genius. Seriously. The kids plan on it, and so do we exhausted parents. It doesn't mean that everyone has to go to sleep, they just need to have a quite time. (Unless you are baby Lincoln. Then you are taking a seriously long nap. *Thanks*)

After said resting time (which sometimes is movie time) I usually start on making dinner and a Sunday treat. Most of the time these treats end up being cookies. I am a serious cookie addict. I love pretty much any homemade cookie. They are warm and make your house smell heavenly. Yesterday we were all cooped in the house with a sick baby. I thought I would brighten our slightly bummer of a Sunday with some cookies. I haven't made oatmeal cookies in such a long time so I went with those. They always remind me of my Grandpa Harris. He is a kindred cookie fiend like myself, and we both share a deep love for oatmeal cookies. I whipped up one of my all time favorite go-to cookie recipes for Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They are chewy (but not doughy) and always please. 

Elena has become an avid cookie making helper these days. She counts down the seconds until she can lick the whisk clean. I remember those times with my mom, and am so glad I have that with my daughter. Those are the times that count. Just you and your mom in the kitchen whipping up some cookies and licking the bowl clean. 

On that note, lets get baking! 

The trick to fabulous chocolate cookies is of course using high quality chocolate. I used semi-sweet 58% Noel chocolate buttons. I am so lucky that my husband brings me these home from work. Seriously, he stocks me up with all the good stuff! Thanks babe! Noel is a brand that might not be available to you, but Callebeau or Valhrona should be. Those are both great brands. 

I used two cups of the chocolate buttons and gave them a rough chop.

Oh yum. I give you permission to snack on a few of these morsels while you are at it..

Butter. What makes cookies good. Seriously. No margarine.....

Cream together the core ingredients. Butter and sugars. No wonder cookies are so good!

Hello handy helper! Elena said to me, "Mom! Take a picture of me with my muscles!" Of course I did. Who could resist?

The color of the butter and sugar should lighten up a bit, and that means you are ready to add in more ingredients. :) 

Add in the eggs and vanilla paste. Give it another mix until they are all blended. 

Whoosh. Done. Now toss in the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour. It's coming together! Almost taste test time!

Give it another whisk around the bowl to combine all the dry stuff.

Looking good! We are ready for the last two yummy ingredients. Guess what they are?

Oatmeal and chocolate chunks. The stars of the cookie today. So delish!

Elena loves the cookie dough. Could hardly wait to get a little taste. Mmmm.

At this point I switch out the whisk attachment for the cookie dough attachment. Give it another little stir and you are ready to rock and roll out those cookie balls!

I set the cookie sheets at the table with the bowl of dough and set Elena loose to create all the cookie dough balls on her own. She loved it! She was so excited to be in charge of it all on her own!

She did a wonderful job too. She balanced out the size of the dough balls all on her own. At the end, she jumped up for joy and said, "Mom! I can't believe I did that all on my own! I feel like, so grown up. It's like I'm a teenager already!" Mike and I laughed out loud. Save us all when Elena is a teenager!!

Cookies for you! These are so good, and work out well every time I bake them. They are definitely my favorite good old fashioned cookie. They sure do brighten up a sick baby Sunday! We will be enjoying them for days to come. :)

I love that my son snuck up on me while I was shooting the pics and snagged himself a cookie right off the top1 I didn't even hear him coming! Sneaky boy. :)

I hope you enjoy making these as much as we did! Cookie baking is so therapeutic, involves chocolate, snatching tastes here and there and making memories that last. It doesn't get better than that in my book. Enjoy!

CLICK ON RECIPE TO VIEW AN ENLARGED PRINTABLE PDF