As you can probably tell by now, I love to bake. My mom would say that I love to experiment, but I can assure you I have learned from my many mistakes and I usually try to follow a recipe. When I was a teenager I used to substitute cornstarch for corn syrup and you can probably imagine the consequences of my concoctions.

One of our household “staples” is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The husband loves them and takes them to work as a snack and Evan has even started eating them if there are enough chocolate chips in them. I’m glad he gets some whole grains while enjoying a delicious treat.

After testing several recipes the one we enjoy the most is this one:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chewy-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar (Coconut Sugar works really well and adds a great flavor to them)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I always use pure vanilla extract I buy every time I go to Mexico)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (If it’s really humid, I add an extra 1/4 tsp)
• 1 teaspoon salt (When I use salted butter I just skip the salt)
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats (Rolled oats work great, too)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I have chocoholics at home so I add an extra 1/2 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Make little balls and place them onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Try not to eat them as soon as they come out the over because believe it or not, they taste even better once they cool down. Enjoy!

I haven’t made any important substitutions. I tried to make them with granulated Splenda once but it just didn’t have the same consistency. These cookies are moist and chewy and remain fresh for about a week if you put them in an airtight container. They never last that long in our house.

Do you guys have any go-to recipes that you know will never go wrong?