maple•spice: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday, 16 September 2011

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I do love a basic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and this is a real good one! As you can see, in keeping with my tastes these are jam packed with as many chocolate chips as was possible to get in ;-) I tried an oatmeal cookie prior to this one but they were way too crisp, these are just lightly crisp on the outside but still nice and chewy too. I love them so much I was having them for breakfast :-) You can easily swap the chocolate chips here for raisins too for a really nice oatmeal raisin cookie, just use less than the chocolate chips, 100g maybe, just eyeball it. :-)

Just a note on the vegan margarine here. I use Vitalite (UK/Ireland) and it's a really soft margarine. If the vegan marg you use is firmer you may have to add a bit more water. I used to use Pure Sunflower and I know if I was using that I would need to add a bit more water. Just add enough so you have a firm drop cookie dough :-)

Also, regarding the chocolate chips, I had some old packages of Dr. Oetker plain chocolate chips which always appeared to be vegan. When I went to go buy some more I noticed the ingredients now had whey powder listed but with a little number 2 by it, almost like it was just a cross contamination issue. I called the company and they weren't sure but said they would ask the head guy (Dr. Oetker himself???) and get him to call back. He said that they recently changed suppliers but would be changing suppliers again at the end of the year and will try to ensure they are dairy free. You go Doctor!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: makes about 19

100g vegan margarine
120g caster sugar
50g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla
115g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
90g oats
140g plain/dark/semi-sweet chocolate chips (again, this is the absolute maximum you'll get in there!)
1 tsp or more water

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. In a bowl whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a large bowl cream together the margarine, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until it comes together. Add 1 tsp or more water if necessary, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoon onto the pan keeping them about an inch apart and bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the just start to go golden around the edges. Leave on the pan for 5 minutes then when they are firm enough to move, transfer to a rack to fully cool. Enjoy!