Ahh, oatmeal cookies. I wish I had a cute little story of a childhood filled with memories of my grandma baking warm and soft oatmeal cookies, but I don’t. My grandmother made fried chicken, while another grandmother made adobo. There were no oatmeal cookies in my Filipino childhood.
BUT.
There are oatmeal cookies in my adulthood.
In fact, I associate oatmeal cookies with my first year of living by myself, ten years ago. And no, I didn’t bake them either. I regularly bought oatmeal cookies at… Starbucks.
Do you guys remember those giant cookies that Starbucks used to sell? This was waaaaay before they partnered with the fancy bakery, and their cookies were as big as my outstretched hand. Oatmeal raisin was my favorite, and I would always buy one right before taking the train to school. Everything felt new to me then: Boston, living alone, commuting, grad school. But the oatmeal raisin cookies at Starbucks tasted familiar and gave me some comfort.
I probably ate one of those oatmeal cookies each week. It was so big I could never finish it in one sitting, so I would usually save the rest and eat it for breakfast the next day. (What? It’s oatmeal!)
Eventually I got the hang of things (I think), and I didn’t need an oatmeal cookie anymore for a little taste of comfort. But I will always remember how I felt so grown up, but not so much that I can’t be soothed with a cookie.
Recently I had the urge to make oatmeal cookies. Maybe for comfort, but mostly for the taste. And I didn’t want to make oatmeal raisin cookies. I wanted to make oatmeal chocolate cookies. Why replace raisins with chocolate? Well, you know why. You’re reading this blog after all.
Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies with milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. I knew I couldn’t go wrong, and in fact I had a hunch I could make these cookies even better. By adding a secret ingredient: rice crispies. Ever since I added rice crispies to a batch of cookies, I couldn’t get enough of the chewiness and crunch it brings. I love having lots of texture in each bite and between the oatmeal, chocolate chips, and rice crispies, this is a pretty perfect cookie.
I know that using three kinds of chocolate chips AND rice crispies is a little too much, but hey, we’re all adults here and we can do whatever we want. Just don’t look for this at Starbucks.
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 medium eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup brown rice crispies
My other favorite oatmeal cookie is this:
Mango White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies – studded with sweet and chewy dried mango pieces and creamy white chocolate chips
And if you’re curious about other cookie recipes with rice crispies, try these:
White Chocolate Rice Crispy Corn Cookies – my take on Momofuku Milk Bar’s famous corn cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Rice Crispy Cookies – the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had (and I don’t say these things lightly!)
No Bake Salted Nutella Oatmeal Cookies – these babies have oatmeal, brown rice crispies, almond butter, and a little bit of milk. Totally okay for breakfast.
What’s your favorite type of cookie?