Salty Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These are the cookies to reach for when you cannot decide between the Chocolate Sugar Cookies and the Salty Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies. Their texture, thin and chewy, resembles the sugar cookies, with the salt and oats of the latter cookie. I love all 3 and do not regret making any of them, although if I were pressed to rank them I confess the Salty Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oats cookies remain my favorite cocoa powder based cookie. Probably because I am biased toward thick, hefty cookies. John on the other hand prefers this recipe.

But these are still worth making. They bake up quickly and easily and can be made on a whim at the last minute with a basic baking pantry. I might chill the dough next time as my kitchen was a bit hot when I made these, thereby perhaps causing more spreading. I used Valrhona cocoa powder and the salt is my addition–leave the coarse salt out if you prefer.

Salty Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Lauren Chattman’s Mom’s Big Book Of Cookies

1 1/4 cups (158 g) AP flour
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
1 t baking soda
1/2 t fine sea salt
1 t coarse sea salt, divided1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 350 F (if your kitchen is warm, chill the dough before scooping and preheat later).

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, fine salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the coarse sea salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter for 1 minute and then add the sugar and cream until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix in thoroughly. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, adding the oats and mixing completely.

Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheets (I got 12 cookies per sheet, 2 sheets). Press each ball lightly with the palm of your hand to flatten it slightly. Sprinkle the cookies with the remaining coarse sea salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until set around the edges and cracked on top. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and the transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.