Basic Oatmeal Cookies

On Saturday night, the weather was icky which made going out sound dreadful.  We've been pretty obsessed with Draw Something lately, thanks to my brother (it's a terrible addiction don't even start!) which inspired me to want to play Pictionary.  At the last minute, I was able to organize a few friends to come over and join us for an exciting game night!




We had such a wonderful time.  We started with CatchPhrase (if you have an iPhone, download Phrase Party and you don't actually need to buy the game!), and then moved onto Pictionary, Charades, and a game I'd never played before - Chinese Telegraph.  You can find a great explanation of how to play the game on Jenna's Everything Blog.  Next time you gather a bunch of your friends, I highly recommend playing this game.  I had to pull out a box of tissues because I was laughing so hard.  It was one of my favorite Saturday nights in a long time - I hope we'll get to have another game night again soon!



Since I threw the gathering together pretty quickly, I felt bad that I hadn't made many treats for my guests.  I am usually pretty good about keeping the ingredients for baked goods in the house, so I decided to throw together some cookies.  I wanted a pretty basic recipe so I went to my reliable Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  My college roommate always used this cookbook, so when a Border's was going out of business I picked up a copy of my own and I love it!  I had all of the ingredients for these Oatmeal Cookies, as well as about 1/4 bag each of chocolate and butterscotch chips, so I quickly threw a batch together.



What a great recipe!  They're super easy to make and tasted delicious!  These are chewy cookies, but I bet if you took them out halfway through baking and gently banged the cookie tray on the oven door before putting them back in, they'd flatten out and turn out crispy if you're into that.  I don't usually add cloves or cinnamon to my oatmeal cookies but I will from now on.  They added a new level of flavor that we all really enjoyed.  Even though I only had 1/2 cup combined of chocolate and butterscotch chips, I thought they were the perfect amount to prevent the cookies from being too sweet or too chocolately (yes, I just said that.  I'm not a huge chocolate lover).  These were a great cookie that I could throw together in no time with the ingredients I had on hand!




Basic Oatmeal Cookies
slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients
3/4 c butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar (I used light)
1/2 c granulated sugar (or Vanilla Sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
2 c rolled oats
1/4 c milk chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 c butterscotch chips (optional)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or, even better, a beater blade) beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.
3. Add the brown sugar, granulated (or vanilla) sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves and beat on medium speed until combined.  If you don't have a beater blade, make sure to scrape the sides down with a spatula. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Add in the whole wheat flour and beat on low until incorporated.  Add AP flour, 1/2 c at a time, and beat on low until incorporated.  Add the oats and beat for 15 seconds or until incorporated.  If desired, add chocolate and butterscotch chips (or anything else, like raisins or craisins) and stir with a spoon until mixed throughout.
5. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet (optionally lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper).  Bake 8-10 minutes (mine actually needed closer to 12 min but they were a little big) until the edges are golden brown.
6. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack to allow to continue to cool.