Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

•        Everyone has an opinion on the 'best' type of cookie - crunchy vs. chewy, undercooked or overdone, etc. I like ALL cookies - I don't discriminate! However, I had a friend who specifically requested 'chewy' oatmeal cookies, so here they are! THere are two tricks: 1) slightly undercook (they will look not done when you take out of oven, thats ok!) and 2) don't completely 'flatten' the cookies on the baking pan - leave them a bit 'higher'.

        If you need a CHEWY oatmeal cookie recipe, this is it! I've already been asked to make them again for an upcoming potluck. I added some chocolate chips to half the batter for some variety and it was excellent too! I'm not sure I would add raisins, or else you'd also have to add more cinnamon & some nutmeg (and you can already find an oatmeal-raisin cookie on this blog). Enjoy!

Please excuse the horrendous photo, I took it with my blackberry - the cookies were getting eaten too fast for a good photo!!!

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• Ingredients:
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
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• Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into balls about the size of a small lime, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Lightly flatten each cookie with a fork.
3. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: For half the batter, I added 3/4 cup chocolate chips and they were also delicious! I also substituted 1 cup of rice flour for 1 cup of the white flour and it also worked out well - I have a friend who has an intolerance to gluten (she can have small amounts) so I wanted to make these as gluten-friendly as possible. However, if I had taken out ALL the white flour I would have had to make several additional modifications and I didn't want to do that!

Source: Adapted from "Soft Oatmeal Cookies" from AllRecipes.