Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Twist

I love work from home days. Who wouldn’t right?! I don’t have to get dressed up in fancy clothes and, even more important this time of year,  get to avoid hiking to the metro in the blazing heat. It’s amazing how much better of a mood I’m in when I don’t have to start my day with sweat pouring off my face. Today was one of those heinously hot and humid mornings in DC that made me dread having to trek into the office. Surprisingly, it didn’t start out that way (Shepherd dog and I actually had a very nice walk, followed by an equally nice run for me through our nation’s Capitol), but by the time I was ready to leave for work the sun was high overhead and the air was so sticky that I was almost certain I would kill someone with my bare hands, or sweat to death, en route to the metro. Yes, the heat makes me slightly irritable…in case you couldn’t tell. Luckily, neither happened, although I did almost start shouting at people to move before ultimately slamming into someone en route to the train (aside from cooler weather, I most look forward to fall because it means the number of tourists in the city plummets back to more manageable levels).

Thankfully, yesterday was one of my weekly work from home days and thus I was able to avoid having to start my day in a dither. The other thing I love about work from home days is that they give me a chance to cook during the week, something I’m usually too tired to do with any level of creativity on a normal work day. For the past couple of weeks it seemed as though my sweet tooth had forsaken me, but I’m happy to report that it has since returned. Consequently, I’ve been all about baking cookies lately. Still slightly craving the fun butterscotch number I whipped up for my day trip with Mother to la playa (beach), I decided to see if I could find a comparable substitute. And I succeeded.

You may recall the time when I decided to be brave an venture into the chocolate chip cookie arena. Well, yesterday, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies with a twist. In conferring with one of the chocolate chip cookie makers extraordinaire in my life (TF), I was informed that my recipe name was stolen from him (although in all the years we’ve known each other I swear I’ve never heard him refer to them like that). Because my twist is different (and some may say more fun), however, I’m going to keep the title J These cookies combine two of my favorite baking ingredients—cinnamon and oats. And, for an additional bit of fun, use white chocolate chips. Yum, yum, YUM!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Twist

Ingredients
Adapted from How Sweet Eats-makes 15-20 cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined, about 2 minutes
3. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon with the mixer on medium speed. Beat in oats. Mix until dough comes together
4. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Remove dough from fridge and roll into big 1 1/2 inch balls. Set on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes