The Salty Chocolate Oat Cookie or “How I Started to Make Crack at Home”

Soundtrack: “Diablo Rojo” by Rodrigo y Gabriela

Once upon a time, in a place far, far away (eight metro stops, to be exact)… I worked in downtown DC, right next to the Teaism at Lafayette Park.  This prime location resulted in many, many trips for Teaism’s amazing chai (NOT to be confused with that milky sugar gunk that Starbucks sells), ginger scones, bento box lunches, and of course: The Chocolate Salty Oat Cookie.

I love the story behind The Chocolate Salty Oat, and I appreciated the convenience of being able to get one every day if I should so choose (and I often did).  The salty-sweet combo of chocolate chips and sea salt is unbeatable, satisfying the cravings that often hit cubicle drones like myself at 2:30pm.  The oats add a great texture and mouth feel, and you can even pretend like it’s kinda healthy.  Kinda.

But one thing bothered me about The Chocolate Salty Oat: crumbleage.   Take one bite or try to break the cookie in half and you have several medium chunks and a LOT of little crumbs.  An 1/8th of the cookie ends up pulverized on the plate (or desk, as was often the case with me).  This slight annoyance combined with a new job that took me away from my daily fix left me searching for a newer, better cookie.

So I started researching how I might make my own version of The Chocolate Salty Oat.  It turns out I’m not the first to do so.  And after several attempts, I think I finally have a product I like.  I give you: The Salty Chocolate Oat Cookie (Lame, I know.  I’m working on the name).

The Salty Chocolate Oat Cookie

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup rice flour*
3/8 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3-5 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup + a few tablespoons of oats
pink himalayan sea salt for sprinkling**

*if you don’t have rice flour, regular flour is fine
**ha.  regular sea salt works too–the chunkier, the better!

Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars.  When well combined, add the egg and vanilla and incorporate into the butter/sugar mixture.  Gradually add the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and oats.  When just combined (don’t overwork the dough after adding flour), fold in the chocolate chips.  Drop by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheets and bake for 10 minutes.  Check on cookies, and if they look undercooked, bake for 2-4 more minutes.  When done baking, immediately sprinkle the cookies with salt and allow to cool.

Enjoy with a glass of unsweetened soy milk!