Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

​I attended my very first cross country meet last weekend.  My son was instrumental in getting his high school to start a cross country program after a six year hiatus from the sport.  There are 16 runners that joined the team and none of them had ever participated in a cross country meet - most of them had never even been to a meet!  (I guess I wasn't the only newbie.)   There were 45 teams at the inaugural meet last weekend - and yes, it was overwhelming - and I wasn't even running.  All of the kids did well and I am sure they are going to have a great season.

​I am new to the sport of cross country but I've run dozens of 5K's in my pre-whimpy ankle days so I know a little something about what runners like to eat after a race.  My favorite post race snacks were oranges, bananas, granola bars and oatmeal cookies.   Thinking that these runners would have the same post race cravings, I decided to make a batch of Oatmeal cookies for the team to snack on after their big race last weekend.  I found the recipe on Williamssonoma.com.  

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
12 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (I used 6 ounces dark chocolate and 6 ounces of white chocolate chips.)

Beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy.

​Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

​Stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips and walnuts. I used half dark chocolate and half white chocolate chips - and no walnuts in my cookies.

​Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.

​Bake until the cookies are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let cool completely. Makes about 60 cookies. 

​I'm going to be perfectly honest - these cookies were not the big hit that I expected them to be.  I expected that they would get devoured by famished runners - not so much.  A few of the kids ate cookies but I brought the majority home with me.  Maybe it was the combination of white and dark chocolate and maybe cookies don't appeal to all runners as post race fuel.  (Go figure.)  Anyway, I think next time I will stick to dark chocolate and walnuts as the original recipe is written.  (Maybe Williams Sonoma really does know something about cookie recipes.)

Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe