Oatmeal Cookies with Currants, Walnuts, and Dark Chocolate Chips
With temperatures dropping it is feeling like cookie season is fast approaching. But way delay? Better to satisfy your cravings and bake up a batch of an old time favorite, oatmeal cookies, this time with a difference.
These oatmeal cookies are extraordinary! I had been wanting to try Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson’s Chocolate-Oatmeal-Walnut Cookies recipe from their Tartine cookbook since the book arrived a year ago. Every recipe in the book tantalizes and reflects a dedication to fresh made by hand pastries, pies, tarts, cakes, cookies, and breads that has made Tartine Bakery legendary in the San Francisco Bay Area. For anyone who loves to bake breads, Tartine Book No 3 is an essential resource not to be missed.
The recipe that follows is an adaptation of Tartine’s recipe. I halved the recipe, added currants, adjusted quantities of walnuts, and substituted small chocolate chips, as opposed to chunks, for a balance in flavors.  I chose not to flatten the cookies before baking as directed, simply because I was wanting a more plump old fashioned oatmeal cookie. It all worked out beautifully. The cookies have a slight crispness around the edges and a moist and unctuous center thanks to Elizabeth and Chad’s masterful recipe.
Oatmeal Cookies with Currants, Walnuts, and Dark Chocolate Chips
Makes 26 cookies (2 inch diameter by ½ inch thick)
- 3 oz dried currants
- 3 oz walnuts halves broken into bits
- 3 oz small dark semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons dark molasses
- 1 large organic egg
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
In a small bowl combine the currants, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Stir together and place in the refrigerator to chill.
In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the rolled oats. Stir together and set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium high speed until light and creamy, stopping the machine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly add the sugar and mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the molasses and beat until combined. Add the egg and beat until mixed in. Then beat in the milk, vanilla extract, and salt until combined.
Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture on low speed until it is well incorporated. The dough will be quite stiff.
Stop the machine, remove the bowl, and stir in the currants, walnuts, and chocolate chips by hand using a silicone spatula.
Transfer the bowl of dough to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat or parchment
Have a small bowl of water on your work surface. Using a small ice cream scoop (about 1 ½ oz capacity), scoop the chilled dough onto the lined baking tray about 2 inches apart. Lightly wet your finger tips and gently press the top of the dough to flatten it just slightly.
Refrigerate the remaining dough while you are baking the first batch.
Place the tray of cookies in the oven and bake 10 to 11 minutes, turning the tray after 5 minutes to insure even baking. Once the edges of the cookies are just beginning to color they are done. Do not over bake! The cookies will still be soft when touching the top, but they will firm up as they cool.
Remove the tray from the oven promptly and set the tray aside to cool for a minute or two. Then gently transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack using a flat spatula.
Repeat the same process for the second batch.
Once the cookies are completely cool transfer to a cookie tin with a tightly fitting lid. The cookies will keep for at least a week in the tin at room temperature.
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