I like them flatter but they taste amazing whether you like them thick or thin.
I remember the first time I made these cookies, we lived in Northern Minnesota. I recall tasting the dough, loving it, and eating spoonfuls of it because it was just SO good.
(I'm not much of a 'cookie' person but I AM a 'cookie dough' person! I'd much rather eat cookie dough and cake batter than eat the final, baked products.) But these cookies are yummy and I often would end up eating over half the finished cookies myself anyway. (Also, because I'm not sure my really little little kids at the time were all that crazy about cookies with nuts in them. But I was. Am.)
The original recipe is typical with brown sugar, white sugar and flour. For that reason they've rarely been made over the past 10 or so years. But this week I was craving them. CRAVING them. They popped up in my head one night around 8:00 pm and they would not leave my brain. So I did what any normal, level headed person would do, right? I went to the kitchen at 8:25 pm and started to get out all the ingredients to bake cookies.
My husband was in the kitchen. He looked at me. He looked at the clock. He looked back at me.
"Yes. I'm going to start baking cookies at 8:30 at night. I tried to get them out of my head and I can't. If I go to bed I'll just lay there and think about these cookies and I'll get mad at myself because I didn't make them."
He nodded, and bowed out of my kitchen so I could get to work.
If it had been at a normal time of day and I wasn't rushing through it to get them into my mouth, I'd probably have given these a 'trial run' using the new Keto King Arthur Flour that I've had pretty good luck with thus far. In that case, these would be super low carb, keto-ish, sugar free cookies.
But I didn't want a trial recipe. No one got time for that. Carbs be damned... I was going to use real flour. Quick and easy, simple and fast. No thinking, no hoping... just fast cookie dough to get into my mouth while a few sheets baked into the actual finished product.
The Original Recipe from 1999/2000:
Best Cookie Ever
2 sticks real butter, soft
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1
t vanilla
2 c flour
2 1/2 c rolled oats
1 t baking soda
1
t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 bag chocolate chips
1 chocolate
bar, grated
1 1/2 c chopped nuts
Oven - 375. Cream
butter and sugars. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry
ingredients. Roll into small balls. Bake 2" apart on greased
sheet. 6-7 minutes. Cool a bit before removing to cool complete.
**Note that back then I started to add cereal to them to give them an awesome crunch. I recall using corn flake or rice krispy style cereals back then; about a cup full. I'd use about 1/2 a bag of the chocolate chips and I'd use a potato peeler to grate a Hershey's bar. Sometimes I'd leave out the candy bar and just use a whole bag of chocolate chips, go more/less on the nuts or oats, etc. Basically you can play with this recipe as you wish.
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2021 Sugar Free Version (pictured): Best Cookie Ever
2 sticks real butter, soft
1 c natural sweetener(s) - (Mix 2-3 for best flavor; Monk Fruit, Erythritol, Allulose)
1 c natural brown sweetener - (like Swerve)
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 c flour (I'll try it with King Arthur Keto flour when I have time to do a trial)
2 1/2 c quick oats
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 bag sugar free chocolate chips of choice (like Lily's or Hershey's)
1/3 c natural, organic cacao nibs (or use 1 grated sugar free chocolate bar)
3/4 c unsweetened bran cereal (I use the kind that look like sticks)
1 1/2 c chopped pecans or favorite nuts
Oven - 375. Cream the sweeteners with the butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients - the batter will be pretty firm. Roll or scoop into small balls. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 6-7 minutes. If you like them flatter, just gently press them with your spatula either before or right after baking. If you like them thick, just leave them bake as they are. I've left one thick in the forefront of the post photo to show a thick version and in the cookies in the background were gently and quickly pressed a little with my metal spatula. I like them pressed flatter personally but they all taste the same! Let them cool a few minutes on the cookie sheets before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
