Giant oatmeal cookies

I didn’t know this growing up but I actually love oatmeal cookies! I think it’s their chewiness and the cinnamony taste. I looove cinnamon! However, for some strange reason oatmeal has been forever paired with gosh-darn-raisins! Why?!?!? In my humble opinion, raisins are devil’s food. They are horrible. So weird and sweet but stale and chewy and not in a good way. What do you think? I think this is one of those divisive topics – either you love them or you hate them!

Anyways, I’m someone who hates raisins but you know what I love? Chocolate! Who doesn’t love chocolate?? It’s the best, most well-known comfort food. It’s just good for the soul in my opinion. So why not pair them both up? Sounds like a match made in food heaven if you ask me.

Let me just say, these cookies are no joke. They aren’t a “standard cookie size” – these are chunky, bakery-style cookies that will just make your heart so so happy. They are special, one of those treats you make for a special occasion and not just a random Thursday (although no one is judging here!). The only bad part is – they do need to be frozen before cooking them (sorry!). It all depends on how you look at it though – you could make a whole batch at once for a special occasion, or you could just bake one or two in a cookie emergency (or for that random Thursday) instead of baking the whole batch. I mean, there’s just no wrong option here.

First things first:

Cut up your butter into small cubes and pop them back in the fridge so they stay nice and cold
Cut up your chocolate into chunks, as big or as small as you like
Preheat your oven to 185C when you’re ready to bake

Ingredients:

230g cold butter, cut into cubes
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar

200g white chocolate chunks
- Options: Caramelised white chocolate (best option), white chocolate bar cut up into chunks (second best), chocolate chips/chunks from a bag (least good option).

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oats

2 eggs
Vanilla extract (don’t measure this but I’d say about 1tsp)
1/2 tsp almond extract

What to do:

I use a KitchenAid stand mixer but you can use an electric hand mixer or a bowl with a wooden spoon for this recipe.

In a large bowl, mix all your dry ingredients – your flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats

In a small bowl, crack your eggs, add-in your vanilla and almond extracts and beat them slightly so that they’ll mix through quickly once we’re ready for them

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), mix the cold butter and both kinds of sugar until the butter has broken up into smaller pieces and your mixture looks like wet sand

Add-in your chocolate chunks and mix through so they’re evenly distributed
- If you were a raisin lover you could add raisins here instead, same amount

Add your dry ingredient mixture and on a low speed, mix through just until you have an even texture. It will look dry but this is normal, you just want everything to be evenly distributed.

Pour in your egg-extracts blend and mix until a dough starts to form. It might still feel a bit crumbly but the mixture will start to come together and into a ball of dough. Do not over mix! Just leave it there.

Divide your dough into evenly sized balls – I use a scale for this and measure 100g balls so I know they’re about even but you can use a large cookie scoop or just eyeball it. You want these big! I’d say between 100-125g per ball.
- When you’re rolling these, you want to try to handle them as little as possible. Don’t try to make perfect balls or to compact them too much. You want to just bring them together with your hands but once they stay in a ball-shape just don’t overwork them. They’re supposed to be chunky and a bit uneven.

Place your cookie balls into a freezer-safe container and pop them in the freezer. They should chill there for at least a couple of hours but ideally you should leave them overnight.

When you’re ready to bake them, preheat your oven to 185C and pop your parchment paper-lined baking tray in the oven to heat up – this will make the bottom of your cookies nice and toasty and will help cook them more evenly (keep in mind that they’re big and fully frozen!)

Bake for about 15-17 min or until they look golden brown and your house smells like heaven

Let them cool for about 10-15min and dig in!! Delicious oatmeal white chocolate almond cookies at your fingertips!!

Top tips:

You can make a single or double batch of these cookies, shape them and freeze them and then just use them up as you wish. They’ll be fine in the freezer for months so it’s the perfect cookie recipe to have on hand!
Keep in mind that your cooking time will vary depending on the size of your cookie balls. For me, 100g balls take about 16-17min in a 185C oven. I know they’re about ready when the house really starts to smell like cookies and when the cookies are looking beautifully golden.
If you have a temperamental oven (like I do), I recommend rotating your baking tray about halfway through so that they cook evenly. That way, if you have any hot spots in your oven, all the cookies will still get the same amount of heat throughout.

I mean… you’re welcome! What else can I say. These are chunky, delicious, sweet – but not sickly sweet, and they are just so much better than anything that has raisins! I’m not the biggest fan of white chocolate in general (I like dark chocolate) but it just goes so well with the oatmeal, the almond extract and the cinnamon.

I discovered caramelized white chocolate a few months ago and it’s kind of a game changer! It’s a much richer, caramel-like flavoured and it’s just an interesting flavor. If you’ve never tried it, I recommend it! Give it a try, particularly in a recipe like this – it just takes it to another level. If you’d like to try it but can’t find it and you’d like me to show you how to make it – leave a comment down below and let me know!