Lucky Charms Cookies!

See this binder here? That's my favorite cookbook in my collection. It's full of hand-written recipes, printed emails, magazine clippings, and recipes cut from the backs of boxes and packages. There are Santa Claus shaped sticky notes sticking out from all sides, marking my very favorites. Some I know by heart, but I get out my binder anyway just in case. My oatmeal cookie recipe is one of those recipes. I've made probably hundreds of batches over the years, and I've honestly never had better oatmeal cookies. I've waffled about sharing the recipe, not just because it's MINE, but because I don't really measure things, and so much is just based on taste and eye. If I give you the recipe, will your cookies turn out anything like mine? I honestly have no idea! But, really, I'm probably overthinking it and they'd be delicious no matter what. So here you go!

Brittany's Oatmeal Cookies

2 sticks of softened butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
stir-in of your choice (chocolate chips, raisins, craisins, white chocolate chips, etc.)
Optional Lucky Charm marshmallows for the tops (I ordered mine on Amazon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the butter and sugars until creamy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir together the dry ingredients, then slowly incorporate into the butter mixture. I like to give the dough a little taste here to see if the cinnamon, vanilla, and salt levels are good. I personally like for the salt to be noticeable, and I like a lot of cinnamon. If it's just right, slowly add the oats and then the stir-in(s). In the case of these Lucky Charms cookies, I stirred in white chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on parchment-lined sheets. Bake until the cookies have spread and puffed lightly and are no longer glossy. Personally, I like to catch them before they start to brown. There's a narrow window for me between perfect and overbaked, but most other people don't seem to mind so much when they get a bit toasty and crispy around the edges. If you are using the marshmallows, pull the cookies out about halfway through, once they've begun to spread a bit but are still very glossy. Press a small handful (about 5-10 marshmallows) into the dough and put them back in the oven to finish baking.

Let them cool completely before packing them up. They will sort of sink and get crackly as they cool, which is good! That means they will be perfectly chewy. The marshmallows melt into the cookies just enough, and get lightly toasted across the top, for the perfect crispy/chewy texture.

These cookies are perfect no matter what you like to add to them. My favorite way to have them is with even more cinnamon and a ridiculous amount of raisins. My uncle doesn't like raisins (what is wrong with people who don't like raisins? I could put raisins in everything), but he loves them with chocolate chips. The first time I tried them, they had been made with Craisins and white chocolate chips. I don't normally like white chocolate, but the combination is heavenly.

Let me know if you try them and how they turn out for you!!