Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies | Easy Low-Sugar Recipe

These oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies are less sweet, nutty and chewy with gooey and fudgy centers. They have a rich chocolate and caramel flavour. Made with simple ingredients, these cookies have to be chilled for a minimum of 90 minutes only before baking which helps you enjoy them right away.

AUTHOR : KHUSHALI PATEL

TOTAL PREPARATION & CHILLING TIME: About 2 hours
BAKING TIME: 15 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 15 minutes

*For the best results, read the entire post & follow the instructions.

What do these oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies taste like?

These oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies made with whole rolled oats and dark chocolate have a natural nutty, chocolatey, caramel flavour coming from the brown sugar and a subtle hint of spice.
The cookies, once baked, are perfectly balanced in texture. They are chewy on the edges and fudgy, gooey in the centre which makes the cookies melt-in-your-mouth every time you bite into them.

Why are these the best oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies?

Flavour

The cookies have a combination of nutty, chocolate and caramel flavours. As this is a low-sugar recipe in comparison to other cookie recipes, the natural flavours of the ingredients shine through. The flavour of the cookies also enhances with each passing day, so you can enjoy these cookies for a long time.

Texture

These cookies are chewy on the edges and gooey in the middle which makes them melt in your mouth and are also light on the stomach.

Ease

The best part about these cookies is that they are easy to prepare using simple baking ingredients that you can easily find. Not only that, you just have to blend all the ingredients in one-bowl. That’s all.

Short chilling time

Usually, as these cookies are made with a mixture of all-purpose flour and whole rolled oats, they have to be chilled overnight to prevent them from over-spreading in the oven or even burning. However, these cookies just need to be chilled for a minimum of 90 minutes or 2 hours before baking.

Key ingredients in these oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies

All-purpose flour, whole rolled oats, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and roasted milk powder

This recipe uses a much higher quantity of whole rolled oats to give the cookies a chew and nutty flavour. However, the cookies maintain their shape quite well while baking.

They are also made with just baking soda to aerate the cookie dough rather than a mix of baking soda and baking powder, as I found that the latter made the cookie cake-like.

The baking soda made the cookie light without affecting the chewy texture. The salt, ground cinnamon and roasted milk powder help boost the flavour of the cookie.

Castor sugar and dark muscovado sugar

Here comes the best part about these cookies! The sugar. During my recipe trials, I tested this recipe with a combination of sugars and with different types of brown sugars such as light brown sugar, dark brown sugar and muscovado sugar. And the winner, of course, was the muscovado sugar.

The muscovado sugar not only provided a rich molasses flavour to the cookie but also gave a depth to the flavours. So much so, that while the cookies were baking my kitchen was filled with the warm and sweet scent of the cookies which made the cookie-baking experience so enjoyable.

The mixture of castor sugar and muscovado sugar made the cookies gooey on the inside and chewy on the outside.

Whole eggs and egg yolks

The cookies are made with whole eggs and extra egg yolks to make them fudgy and gooey.

Unsalted butter

Initially I prepared these cookies with melted butter. As these cookies have a large quantity of whole rolled oats, the cookies spread way too much and that affected the gooey centres. To prevent this, I used softened butter instead which instantly solved this problem. Not only that, the chilling time was also reduced.

Chocolate chunks, roasted walnuts, and pure vanilla extract

Use couverture or pure chocolate for this recipe. I used 50% dark chocolate. You can use the same or even 70% dark chocolate for a strong chocolate flavour. You can also use a mix of different chocolates of your choice. Read more about how chocolate affects your baking dishes right here.

Use high-quality walnuts that you have roasted and pure vanilla extract rather than vanilla essence for the best flavour.

05 Tips to make the best Oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies

Blend the ingredients instead of creaming them

A common mistake you might make especially if you are in the initial stages of your baking journey is that, you may cream your butter till it’s light and fluffy.

Cookies need just a small amount of air mixed into the dough as compared to cakes, so just blending the ingredients till they are soft and combined is enough. This reduces the chilling time, makes the cookie dough easier to shape and the cookies also don’t overspread or burn while baking.

Use softened butter instead of room temperature butter

You might be wondering what differentiates a successful cookie result from an unsuccessful one. And that is the texture of the butter. When the texture of the butter is right, the cookie is light and chewy at the same time.

So how do you know when the texture of the butter is right?

Rather than focusing on the temperature of the butter, focus on the texture as the term room temperature is misleading.

The temperature of your kitchen where you live and where I live can be completely different, so bringing it to room temperature is not the right way to go.

I have this easy yet effective method for you to follow that will help you understand butter and use it the right way, making you a baking pro in no time. For this, however, you will need a thermometer. But that does not mean you have to check the butter using a thermometer every time you bake.

Place a stick or block of butter in its packaging on your kitchen counter away from the sun.
Now every 10-15 minutes, check the butter.
When it reaches 18°C, poke the butter with your finger.
You will find that the butter will resist your finger, and you will have to put a bit of pressure to make a dent. The butter will also be a little cool to the touch. This is when your butter is ready to be used for baking. Observe and check how the butter looks and feels at this point.

Next, check the texture of the butter once it reaches 21°C (follow steps 1 through 3).

When the butter has softened and is anywhere between 18°C to 21°C, it is ready to be used.

While doing this experiment, note down the time the butter took to soften and reach the right temperature. So now every time you have to bake, you know how much time your butter needs to soften.

Keep a 2-inch gap between each cookie while baking

As mentioned above, the cookies are made with quite a large quantity of whole rolled oats and the chill time is quite shorter too. For this reason, the cookies do spread more than other cookies but without any damage, So, make sure to keep space between each cookie while baking and use a cookie cutter to reshape them once they are baked (optional).

Use pure or couverture chocolate instead of chocolate chips

There are various types of chocolate products available in the market such as chocolate chips, chocolate blocks and bars each made with an addition of different ingredients. Read more about chocolate in this post.

For this recipe, you can achieve that gooey and rich chocolate flavour only when you use chocolate that melts readily in the oven. Unfortunately, not all the chocolates available do. For this reason, use pure high-quality chocolate or couverture chocolate that mostly come in block form or in callets. Avoid chocolate chips as they generally have stabilizers in them which prevent them from melting in the oven.

Chill the cookies for a minimum of 90 minutes for the best results

Chilling the cookie dough for a minimum of 90 minutes to 2 hours helps the dry ingredients absorb the wet ingredients making the structure of the cookie stronger. It also helps the flavour of the cookie develop and become richer. If the dough is not chilled, the cookie will over-spread while baking and not be chewy and gooey at the same time.

Want to take the first step towards developing an intentional habit that jump-starts your baking experience?

Download the *free* guide on how to line your baking pans like a pro by subscribing to my email list.

P.S. you will also get access to my Facebook group where I will share exclusive content only with you.

How to roast milk powder

Weigh 200g of milk powder in a non-stick pan.
Heat the milk powder on low heat stirring continuously with a spatula.
The milk powder may clump up a little during the process but try to break them as much as possible using the spatula.
Avoid increasing the heat to avoid burning the milk powder.
Once the milk powder is amber in colour, turn off the heat and transfer it into a bowl to cool.
Once cool, sift the milk powder to get rid of any lumps.

Store in an air-tight container.

Step-by-step instructions

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use instant oats to make these cookies?

Unfortunately, you can’t. These cookies are best made with high-quality whole rolled oats as they do not absorb moisture quickly. This gives the cookie a firm and chewy texture. Instant oats absorb moisture very quickly, so the cookies will just overspread while baking and will be more like a pancake.

Why did my cookies overspread?

Cookies overspread because of three reasons:

The butter was too soft – to prevent this tip no. 02.
The cookie dough was over-mixed – to prevent this, follow tip no. 01
If this happens, I highly recommend chilling your cookie dough overnight.

The oven was too hot – I highly recommend using an oven thermometer to know the actual temperature of the oven, Read more about ovens and how to use them correctly for baking in this post.

Can I use a different kind of brown sugar to make these oatmeal dark chocolate chunk cookies?

The cookies are best made with muscovado sugar. But if you do not have that on hand, use dark brown sugar. You can also add 05 grams of molasses to compensate the loss in flavour.