Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Candy Cookies

I love looking at the calendar to see what “holiday” I get to celebrate every day. And today is extra special because it’s National Oatmeal Cookie Day! Know what else I love? That these fun little holidays make me break out my recipe books to find old recipes, like this soft and chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

The first time I made these cookies, using this recipe from What’s Gaby Cooking, I was doing a super crazy baking binge right before Christmas. And because I was baking 6 types of cookies, a double batch of pumpkin bread, two cheesecakes, plus something else that I can’t remember at the moment, I misread the cookie recipe. I looked at it and thought I saw 8 tbsp instead of 8 oz and only put in one stick of butter.

Oops…

So I just told everyone, “Well, they taste great, but you should probably eat them with a glass of milk…” Ha!

I then looked at the recipe and noticed that there should be TWO sticks of butter in it. Once that mystery was solved, I modified the recipe a bit to make it a little more “me.” Because that’s what I do.

Since then, bake sale-rs and holiday partiers have raved about these oatmeal chocolate chip candy cookies. They’re a bit different than traditional types of cookies so that adds to the wow factor of these babies. They’re not just chocolate chip, and they’re not oatmeal raisin. Which I think people appreciate. Because variety is the spice of life. Or something.

The best part about this oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe is that it calls for those delicious hard shell candies with the Ms on them. And of course, that means that these cookies can be specialized for any holiday or season. Plus, it makes a large amount so these cookies are great for bake sales. Isn’t it fun to have a festive and versatile recipe that’s also easy and delicious?

Recipe adapted slightly from What’s Gaby Cooking.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Candy Cookies

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Prep Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 6 dozen

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1¾ cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups candies (the kind with the colorful hard shells with Ms on them)
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside.
• In the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar and mix for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the vanilla and mix well.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Stir in the oats, candies, and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
• **Refrigerate for at least one hour.**
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a cookie/ice cream scoop, place 12 mounds of cookie dough on your baking sheet (or if they're larger sheets like mine, you can do 15 mounds), flattening them out a bit as you go. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are slightly brown around the edges, but still a bit soft in the middle.
• Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

• You could use just candies or just chocolate chips instead of both, but hey more chocolate is more better, right?
• If you want the candies to really be visible on your cookies, make sure you have some extra and place a few on the raw cookie dough mounds before you bake them.
• I use a smaller cookie scoop so these oatmeal chocolate chip candy cookies are on the small side. They could definitely be made larger though. Just be sure to adjust your baking time accordingly.

Don’t forget that when you’re making these, the dough needs to be refrigerated for at least an hour before baking. This helps the flavors meld together and also helps the cookies not to spread too much on the baking sheet while they’re cooking. And that helps them stay softer in the middle. Yum!

These cookies end up being fairly small-ish, but that’s what I like because then I can eat more in one sitting. (Oh come on, you know you do it too…) You could easily make these larger. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly. I’d say start with 12-14 minutes and go from there.

So, I know this could get rather controversial, but I have to ask – are you an oatmeal raisin person? Or are you like me and prefer chocolate chips in your oatmeal cookies?

(Originally posted 4/30/2019; Updated 1/26/2022)