A Truly Serious Addiction to Butterscotch Cookies

I'm the kind of person who, if you ask me nicely to make you cookies sometime, will remember and get on it. The way I see it, it's a win-win situation. I'm content to spend my time baking up a storm and you get to eat the fruits... er, cookies... of my labor.  I also receive another bonus: feedback. I'm always hungry for reviews. Hence, the moment my lifeguard older brother David asked me the other day to bake him a batch for a competition at work, I made up my mind to do exactly that.

        At the community centre where he works, they hold a "food day" once a week. I don't know who came up with that idea and I can't fathom its connection in any way to water sports, but I'm really glad they did. The goal is simple: bring in the best food and you win. The challenge sounded to me like a great way to get some honest feedback from a large group of people.

Chewy Butterscotch Oat Cookies

        David had his mind set on winning the competition, so he wanted to take out the big guns. 

       "Make the butterscotch cookies," he told me. "They'll win for sure."

        My aunt, Flore, has this famous recipe she used to make every time the family got together for parties. It yielded a large batch of perfection in the form of a chewy cookie: butterscotch oat cookies, that is. They never lasted to the end of a party because no one could eat a cookie from the tray without returning for more. 

        If you're looking for raves, these cookies will deliver. Their flavor is so wonderful and unique that it practically attacks the senses. It's like all the goodness in the world just hops in your mouth in a taste battle between the cookie's sweet and salty notes. I have a strong love for these butterscotch treats, but between you and me, it's more like an addiction. Don't tell anyone, though. They'll... They'll take me away again.

        I saw to it that my brother had a batch to bring to work the next day and I waited patiently afterward to learn the results of the competition. I wasn't disappointed. When David returned home he brought not a single cookie back with him, though he'd taken a lot of cookies when he'd left for work that morning. His good news didn't surprise me in the least--the cookies had won the food day competition for him. The whole batch had been polished off.

        If I haven't convinced you already, then I'll say it again: this cookie recipe is a real winner. I love these cookies so much that I felt the need to take pictures of the entire process... Now, I can share them with you.

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Butterscotch Oat Cookies: Step-by-Step

You will need: butter, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, all-purpose flour, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, butterscotch chips, and (optional) chopped nuts. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

First, you're going to combine the butter and the two sugars: white and brown. Just melt the butter in a microwave, then put it in a bowl along with white sugar and brown sugar.

After using a fork to mix the three ingredients together, grab two eggs. Crack the first one into the bowl and beat it in. Crack in the second and do the same.

Add the oats...

...and stir to combine.

Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the mix. Mix 'em up with the rest of the batter.

Now for the best part: the butterscotch chips! As you can see, there are a lot of them.

Once you have them mixed in, your batter is done. Unless... unless you're not done. See, at this point I would normally add chopped pecans because I'm a nut for nuts (a nut nut?). You can add them too, if you like. They're totally optional, so if you don't like nuts in your cookies then leave 'em out. I made this batch without nuts for food day (in case of nut allergies, I didn't want to risk it) and they were still every bit as phenomenal.

Spoon (or scoop with an ice cream scoop, as I did) the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Don't grease it unless you want flatter cookies, which I didn't.

As I said before, this recipe makes a large batch. You can expect to get about 50 regular-sized cookies out of it.

Bake them one batch at a time for about 7 minutes per batch. Ovens vary, so I'll share a tip with you: if you want a chewy cookie, take them out of the oven before they look done. Ideally they should still look a bit raw, but don't worry. You'd be surprised how much cookies continue to cook on the sheet after they've been removed from the oven. If you're mindful of this, you'll get chewy cookies every time.

This is after I took a batch out of the oven. Note the excess moisture that indicates an underdone cookie. If you were to try removing the cookies from the sheet without waiting, they would be mush. They will be done after ten minutes or so of remaining on the cookie sheet, which allows for the heat to continue the cooking process. When the cookies are firm enough and look done, you can go right ahead and remove them from the cookie sheet. 

You didn't think I was going to give every last cookie away, did you? I saved myself a couple to gobble up this morning, after food day had ended. You see, after all fifty cookies are cooled, cooked, and done then all that's left to do is eat them. So do it. Bask in their butterscotch goodness.

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Chewy Butterscotch Oat Cookies

(Yield: Approximately 50 cookies)

Print This Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups butterscotch chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter and both sugars. Mix well. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Measure in remaining ingredients. Mix together. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake for about 7 minutes per batch, or until cookies are somewhat cooked but don't look completely done. Allow cookies to remain on baking sheet for about ten minutes, or until firm, after removing from oven in order to complete the cooking process. Remove from sheet.