One of my favorite homemade breakfasts is chocolate walnut oatmeal, sometimes with raspberries for the brightness. Hot oatmeal though, as cold overnight oats taste like slimy death. I know, I know, they’ve become incredibly popular in the past few years, I just can’t do it! Your space is meant to be whimsical, the holiday season actually starts in August, and oatmeal is meant to be hot. If you want to do oatmeal meal prep, set it up to be baked. I’m right about this.
That love of oatmeal absolutely extends over to the cookie world. But just like a bowl of oatmeal should be hot, oatmeal cookies should be made with chocolate, not raisins. Do I find raisins disgusting? No, but they are distinctly just okay. They’re not nature’s candy, and they don’t belong in cookies I’m baking for me. These oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies are chewy, moist (there is no substitute, I’m sorry), and cozy, with just a touch of decadence. Super easy and quick to throw together, no fancy equipment needed. The perfect sweet treat to bake with your kids, or after a long day of work.
FAQs and Science
Why do I have to chill the dough?
There are a few reasons I’m instructing you to chill the cookie dough. For starters, warm dough is more difficult to work with. It’s sticky, it doesn’t like to hold its shape, all around a frustrating time. But there’s also delicious reasoning! Chilling the dough keeps the final baked cookies thicker and slightly chewier, and allows the flavors to intensify. It’s worth the hour, trust me.
Could I substitute walnuts for another nut, or leave them out?
Yes, you could replace the walnuts with pecans, peanuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, whichever nut you love in cookies. Or, yes, you could leave out any nuts and fill in the gap with chocolate. However, keep in mind that walnuts aren’t just providing a crunch, they offer more fat to the cookies. So removing any nuts entirely may make for a slightly drier cookie.
What does melted butter vs softened butter do in cookie dough?
Cookies made with liquid fat vs softened fat end up chewier! Plus, they’re easy to make without an expensive mixer.
Is there a reason for all of the egg whites, rather than only whole eggs?
Because of the kind of structural support they offer, egg whites make cookies chewier! If you haven’t noticed a pattern by now, I’m a big fan of a chewy cookie.
Why toast the nuts before adding them to the dough?
Toasting any nuts before tossing them into whatever recipe you’re baking intensifies the flavor of that nut in the final product. Without toasting them, a lot of nuts have a fairly muted flavor that can easily get lost in baked goods.
What You’ll Need
- 2 baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Plastic wrap
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
- Dry measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Whisk
- Rubber spatula
- Chef’s knife
- Cutting board
- Cookie scoop (optional)
- Spatula
- Cooling rack
The Process
Get the oven and pans ready to go! Preheat the oven to 350F, on the convection setting if it’s an option, with the rack positioned in the center. Place either parchment paper or silicone baking mats on two baking sheets, then set them aside.
As soon as the oven reaches 350, toast the nuts. Scatter them over one of the baking sheets, then toast them for 8-10 minutes. When they’re finished, they’ll be fragrant and the inside will be golden brown. If you’re unsure, carefully take one and cut it open to take a look. If you’re curious why this step is important, go check out the FAQs and Science section! Transfer the walnuts over to a cutting board. Allow them to cool down to room temperature before using them in the dough.
While the nuts cool, keep going with the next steps in the recipe. Whisk the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and, if you’re using it, cinnamon together in a medium sized bowl. Not everyone is a fan of spiced chocolate, and that’s completely okay. You are the captain of your cookies, so if you don’t like cinnamon and chocolate together, leaving it out is the best thing to do.
Grab a large, heat safe mixing bowl and melt the butter in the microwave. If a microwave isn’t an option, you could melt the butter in a pan on the stove instead and then transfer it over to the mixing bowl! I’m lazy and will always look for the least amount of dishes option, but sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got. Add the brown sugar, whole egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract to the butter. Whisk them all together until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous.
By now, the nuts should be cool and ready for chopping. Grab a chef’s knife and give the walnuts a rough chop, so they’re about the same size as the chocolate chips.
Pour the entirety of the dry goods into the bowl with the wet mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently stir them together, so flour doesn’t get everywhere. Once most of the flour mix has been absorbed, but a few streaks remain, dump the chopped nuts and chocolate chips into the dough.
Stir the dough again, until the nuts and chocolate are evenly distributed and all of the dry goods have disappeared into the dough. It may feel a bit loose and sticky, that’s normal at this stage.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the dough into the fridge to chill. Chill the dough for a minimum of 1 hour, or up to two days. The cold will help get rid of the stickiness of the dough, making it much easier to work with. Plus, the longer the dough rests, the more flavor it will develop over time.
Time to assemble and bake. Take one of the lined baking sheets and portion out six hunks of dough measuring out ¼ cup or 4 Tablespoons. My cookie scoop measures out 2 Tablespoons of dough, so I use two scoops per cookie.
Roll each hunk of dough into a ball and space the cookies out by around two inches. Lightly flatten the cookies, so they’re a thick hockey puck shape. It makes for a better, more even bake in the end. Bake the first tray of cookies for 13-15 minutes, flipping halfway through, or until the edges are a toasty golden brown.
While the first sheet of cookies bake, prepare the next batch. When the first pan comes out of the oven, toss the second batch in. Give the hot cookies a few minutes to rest on the pan before transferring them over to a cooling rack using a spatula. If you move them right away, the structural integrity is garbage and they will undoubtedly fall apart. A bit of patience is warranted.
Let the cookies come as close to room temperature as you have the patience to wait for, then dig in and enjoy! Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
Bake Time: 350F for 13-15 minutes
Servings: 2 dozen
Total Time: 3 hours
Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup walnut halves
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon (optional)
- 16 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350F, on the convection setting if possible, positioning the rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set them aside.
- Once the oven is hot, dump the walnuts onto one of the baking sheets. Spread them out and pop them into the hot oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the nuts are fragrant and the inside is a toasty golden brown. Transfer the toasted walnuts onto a cutting board and allow them to cool completely.
- While the nuts cool, bring the dry goods together. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, if using. Set the bowl aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, melt the butter. Add the brown sugar, egg, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Whisk them together, until the mixture becomes smooth and homogeneous.
- When the nuts are cool, give them a rough chop so the pieces are about the size of chocolate chips. Dump the dry goods over the wet mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir the two together.
- When only a few streaks of unhydrated flour remain, add the chopped nuts and chocolate chips. Mix the dough until the additions are evenly dispersed and the dry goods are no longer visible. Cover the dough with a sheet of plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of one hour, or for up to two days.
- Grab one of the lined baking sheets and portion out six ¼ cup or 4 Tablespoon hunks of dough. Roll the dough hunks into balls and space them 2 inches apart. Flatten the balls slightly, so they’re now shaped like a hockey puck. Bake the cookies on the center rack of the hot oven for 13-15 minutes, flipping halfway through baking, until the edges are a nice golden brown.
- Prepare the second pan of cookies while the first one bakes, then switch them out as soon as the first batch is finished. Allow the cookies to rest on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them over to a cooling rack to come down to room temperature. Continue this process until all of the dough has finished baking. Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to three days, and enjoy!
Tips
- Unbaked cookie dough can be portioned out and frozen to then pull and bake later on at your discretion! Follow the recipe through step 6, then after the dough has finished chilling, portion out all of the dough. Roll the hunks into balls, flatten them a bit, then line them flush against each other on a baking sheet. Place the sheet in the freezer. When the dough is frozen solid, transfer the cookies over to a freezer safe bag. Bake at 350F for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges have browned.
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