Sometimes I want a soft cookie, and sometimes I want them crisp. Chewy cookies are also great, but the one thing I can never find in a cookie is a good light crunch. Sure there’re cookies with nuts, but those get soft and don’t really bring the texture I’m looking for anyway. For these cookies, I was thinking that I wanted an extremely light cookie. A cookie as light and crisp as tempura, but with a slight chew and an exciting crunch when you bite in. But as I quickly learned, there’s really no conventional way to make your cookie chewy and crunchy, to keep it light and airy without it turning cakey. Then I thought of this recipe. It’s a recipe that takes the chewy properties of baked oatmeal and seamlessly blends it with the crunchy lightness of rice cereal. May I present, the best form of crispy chocolate chip cookies: Crackle cookies.
These crispy chocolate chip cookies are a family favorite! My boyfriend’s mom is obsessed with them. When my brother’s girlfriend had them for the first time she texted me “What do you make those new cookies out of?! They are literally amazing! I love the crunch”. So if you don’t believe me, because I’ll admit I am a little biased when it comes to promoting my own recipes, then believe her! These crispy chocolate chip cookies bring so much joy and love into the world. It is with pleasure that I am able to present you with the recipe.
An Important Note for crispy chocolate chip cookies:
Something important to note about any cookie with oatmeal in it is how to store the dough. Of course, if you are going to bake the dough immediately, then there is nothing for you to worry about, and you can skip this information! But if you find that this recipe makes too many cookies, and you want to store some for later, you should continue reading. Everyone knows how oatmeal works, you add water (usually hot) and magically the oats get goopy and gelatinous. Well, this gel is formed when the oats are moist. Oats can even create this gel in low temperatures in the fridge, as long as there is moisture present. A classic example of this is over-night oats. While this is all fine and good, it is very very bad for our cookies.
What can I do to stop the oatmeal from ruining my cookies?
If you are trying to store any cookie dough that contains oatmeal in it, you MUST freeze it. In the freezer, the oatmeal all moisture is frozen so there is no liquid to react with the oats. No reaction means the oatmeal won’t get goopy in the cookie. However, if you store the dough in the fridge, the liquid in the dough is not solid. This moisture is accessible to the oatmeal, and disaster will strike. You won’t notice it in the unbaked dough, but you will notice it once the dough is baked. The baked cookies from refrigerated dough come out very thin and liquidy, almost like you accidentally added too many eggs to your batter. This is due to the oatmeal creating its gelatinous gel while it sat reacting with the moisture in the dough in the fridge. So, if you want to successfully store your cookie dough to cook later on, please please please use the freezer!
Crackle Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar (you can substitute this for light brown sugar if you do not have dark brown)
- 2 Eggs
- 1½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
- 3 cups Plain Rice Cereal (like rice krispies)
- 10 ounces Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips (you dont have to use mini, but mini is best in my opinion)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk thoroughly to evenly distribute everything. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the soft, room temperature butter, and the sugars. Using a hand mixer, beat until creamy and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until fully incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until just a couple streaks of dry flour remains.
- Add the oats, rice cereal, and chocolate chips. Beat until the dough looks like there is an even distribution of each ingredient throughout.
- Using a cookie scoop or your hands, portion the dough into balls the size of 1-2 tablespoons.
- Bake cookies on a parchment lined sheet tray for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Note: You should bake cookies immediately for best results. If you do want to save some dough for later, you can, but you must do so by FREEZING the dough balls. Do NOT refrigerate the dough balls, as the warmer temperature in the fridge compared to the freezer will actually allow the oatmeal to react with the moisture in the dough and this reaction will ruin how your cookies bake.
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These are AMAZING!!!! Chewy and the perfect texture!
I am so glad you like them!