Best Cookies Ever

No, really. I know that's a bold statement, and to some degree unattainable..... there are so many different kinds of cookies: sugar, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, whatever. But still. You know that old cookie recipe your mom used to make for you? Or those wafers of pure nostalgia that Grandma always kept in that big jar in her kitchen? Well, throw all that out, make a batch of these, and then tell everyone that this was the recipe your mom and Grandma used all along.

Best Cookies Ever


This will make about 30 cookies.... unless you eat a lot of the dough, and eat a lot of them straight out of the oven. In that case, this will make about, 10 or so, and those will be gone by tomorrow morning anyway.

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 1/4 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream together the white sugar, brown sugar and butter/shortening. This works better if the butter is at room temperature. Add the vanilla and the egg, and mix it all up together.

Add the oatmeal, flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips. Beat with the mixer until everything is blended well, and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure you get everything.

All the dough can fit on two large cookie sheets. Grab a nugget of dough, and roll it between your palms, so you have a lump about the size of a ping-pong ball. Set them out on an ungreased cookie sheet, 3 wide and 5 deep. Flatten the balls slightly with your palm. Cook in the middle of the oven for 7-9 minutes.

When the cookies are done, they will still look a little gelatinous....that's okay! The worst thing in the world is a batch of crunchy, gritty, over-baked cookies. Take the sheets out and let them sit on the rangetop or whatever for five to ten minutes; the hot metal will finish cooking them out of the oven.

Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack for awhile. If there are any left after ten minutes or so, you can keep them in the fridge or freezer to keep them soft and delicious, or leave them out if you like your cookies a little crisper.