Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

How do I start a post about losing true love? Having something so beautiful and wonderful and one of a kind and knowing I’ll never have it again? How can I possibly articulate that kind of loss, that kind of sorrow?

Losing an ice cream flavor is never an easy thing.

Oh? You didn’t know I was talking about ice cream? It…it wasn’t obvious? Whoops, my bad.

But maybe now you understand how I feel about ice cream. And how I could be heartbroken over having had a love affair with a flavor so right for me, so good, that to know it’ll never again grace my lips is heartbreaking.

I’m talking of course, about Ben and Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Chunk. HAVE YOU EVER HAD IT?! Do you understand my pain?! It cut like a knife. I only ever had it two times. Two times. That’s all it took. I was hooked. I felt a love like I had never known. And then…just like that…poof! Gone. Forever.

I didn’t think I would ever be able to move on. After years of trying and failing to fill the void left by Chunk I knew a replacement was never possible. It just wasn’t going to happen. There was no one like Chunk, there never would be again.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy oatmeal and chocolate chips in all their splendor. It doesn’t mean I can’t bake the dough instead of putting it in ice cream (although all this waxing poetic makes me want to try my hand at a recipe recreation). It’s doesn’t mean that I won’t love again.

Do you have an ice cream flavor that you’ve loved and lost? Did you ever have Oatmeal Cookie Chunk? Have you felt what I’ve felt? We should start a support group. We’ll meet once a week to discuss our fondest memories, our sweetest moments. Obviously, leaning on each other will give us the strength to move on, to begin again, to find other opportunities for love.

I’ll bring the cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

(makes 24ish cookies, adapted from my own recipe)

7 tablespoon butter, browned and cooled

½ cup old-fashioned oats

½ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup + 1 tablespoon flour

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. cinnamon (trust me)

¾ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

heaping ¼ cup mini chocolate chips

If you need guidance browning butter, look here (INSERT LINK). Once that is done, pour into bowl of a stand mixer and set aside.

Whisk together oats, flour, salt, baking soda, powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar, scraping down bowls as necessary. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, scraping down the bowl to make sure everything is thoroughly mixed.

Turn dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a small cookie scoop, portion out dough onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

Remove to rack and allow to cool completely on pan.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for three days.