Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies!

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I am a terrible sucker for cooking magazines. I recently accepted a "trial" subscription to Cooks Country magazine, but of course wound up just keeping it. Cooks Country is kind of cross between Cook's Illustrated (which publishes it) and Taste of Home (which, by the way is the top-selling cooking mag in the U.S.).

This recipe is from Cooks Country web site. The only substitution I made was using chopped bittersweet chocolate instead of semisweet chips. The "secret ingredients" here are using ground oats in place of some of the flour and mixing in melted milk chocolate into the dough. These were fantastic. These are the cookies mentioned here.

1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened but still cool
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces milk chocolate , melted and cooled
1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup toasted* pecans, chopped

1. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower- middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1 cup oats in food processor or blender and process until well ground, about 30 seconds. Transfer to large bowl and stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2. With electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until well blended and lumps are gone, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add melted chocolate and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated, about 15 seconds. Add remaining 3/4 cup oats, chocolate chips, and nuts and beat on low speed until evenly distributed, about 10 seconds.

3. Roll 2 tablespoons of dough into balls and space 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake, rotating and switching position of pans halfway through baking time, until cookies are cracked and set on top but look moist within cracks, 14 to 16 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

* Toast pecans in a 350F oven for 5 to 7 minutes.