I am aware that it is 83 degrees with 85% humidity today in upstate New York. The skies are stormy, and my hair has absorbed about 3 pounds of water. So, what would any sane person do? Turn that oven on to 325 degrees and let’s make some oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies!

Jack is home and Amelia is on the way here for the weekend so I’m ready to bake. Now remember, I am NOT a baker but my friends at King Arthur sure are and thanks to the live chat, I got a great recipe for you. I usually take some liberty with recipes, but these passed the taste test as is. Special thanks to King Arthur for this recipe.

Well almost. I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour and dark chips. I would have added walnuts too, but no one likes them except me and I certainly to not need to consume too many of these babies!

Note:  If you use King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour the live chat team said to add 2 tablespoons of extra liquid. I had some buttermilk in the fridge and I used that.

What you need:

• 1 cup (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour)
• 1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt
• 3 cups semisweet or dark chocolate chips

What to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease with non-stick vegetable oil spray.
2. Beat together the butter and sugars until smooth.
3. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
4. Whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and add to the butter mixture in the bowl.
5. Mix until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix briefly.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Decide what size cookies you want to make. A muffin scoop (1/4 cup) will make 20 large, palm-sized cookies. A tablespoon cookie scoop(4 teaspoons) will make 50 medium (2 3/4″ to 3″) cookies; and a teaspoon cookie scoop (2 teaspoons) will make 100 small (2 1/2″) cookies. (I used a scoop that yielded 36 palm sized cookies!)
8. Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2″ to 2″ between cookies.
9. Bake the cookies for 12 to 17 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown, with slightly darker edges. Their middles may still look a tiny bit shiny; that’s OK, they’ll continue to bake as they cool on the pan.
10. Remove the cookies from the oven, and as soon as they’re set enough to handle, transfer them to racks to cool.
11. Yield: 20 to 100 cookies, depending on size.

Enjoy these delicious treats sitting on your deck with some iced tea. Fall will be here soon enough so get outside while we can. As they say at King Arthur, “Happy Baking!”

PS:  TIPS FROM KING ARTHUR BAKERS

• Feel free to substitute a 1-pound bag of chocolate chips for the 18 ounces (3 cups) called for.
• Our Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour makes it easy to make many of your favorite traditional recipes (like this one) gluten-free. Simply substitute Measure for Measure flour 1:1 for the flour called for in your recipe; no additional ingredients or other changes needed.
• These cookies make wonderful ice cream sandwiches. Sandwich two cookies around a scoop of softened ice cream — we especially like Ben & Jerry’s (Phish Food!).