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"Wow, what are these"? Everyone asks when they take the first bite of these delicious Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies. Then they beg for the recipe!
They look like pretty regular cookies, right? I mean, they're not ugly ducklings or anything, actually decently good-looking chocolate chip cookies; it just seems that no one is prepared for that first bite. These Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies are crisp, buttery, light (not in calories, sorry!) and just plain old crazy delicious.
I've been making these cookies for as long as I can remember, and I thought I had shared the basic recipe a long time ago on the blog. When I went to search The Café archives, I couldn't find a trace of them. Holy schmoly, I've been holding back one of my best cookie recipes of all time!
Two sisters
The first time I ever tasted them was at the hospital I worked at for many years. I was an RN and took care of lots of wonderful people during my career, but there are a few that stand out in my memory. One of them was a sweet elderly woman. Well at least, at the time, she seemed elderly - I was in my late 20's and anyone over 50 was "elderly" in my opinion.
Sheesh, now that I think about it, she was probably younger than I am right now! Oops. Anyway, I took care of her for several days, and each day her sister, also quite elderly (to me) came to visit. The sister always brought a treat for the nurses. One (happy) day, she stopped at the nurse's station and handed us a platter of amazing cookies.
Well, I didn't know they were amazing yet. Actually, they didn't look like anything special, but I took one (to be polite) and had a little nibble (to be polite). I know my eyes got very wide. Like gigantically wide! "What are these?", I asked.
"Cereal Cookies", she replied, in her "elderly" voice. Now that was a very boring name for a very extraordinary cookie. Nevertheless, I begged her for the recipe. The very next day when she arrived for her visit, she handed me a little white notecard with the recipe for "Cereal Cookies" scribbled on it. I still have that little notecard, and though it's quite yellow now and the recipe's been in my computer for years, I've never been able to part with it.
I added toffee bits (one of my weaknesses) to the original recipe almost right away and decided the name had to be "Sister's Cookies". That's what we've called them ever since. I've made them a zillion times over the years, and have done tons of variations of these cookies; this time with dried cherries and chocolate chips, hence the name, Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies. They never fail to get rave reviews and always that same question, "What are these?" and/or "What is in these cookies?"
The recipe is a bit unusual. It calls for butter and oil (definitely not a dieter's delight). There's also rice cereal (Rice Krispies), oatmeal, dried cherries, chocolate chips and toffee bits along with the usual flour, sugar, etc. It makes a seriously HUGE batch - over 4 dozen large cookies. The good thing is; the baked cookies freeze beautifully and you can also freeze the dough in scoops and bake up fresh cookies in minutes whenever urge for deliciousness overtakes you! By the way, if you like these, you're gonna love our Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Bars! So delicious!
You'll have to mix up a batch of these Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies to understand what I'm talking about.
If you're planning to give any away, go ahead and print up a couple copies of the recipe. I promise, you'll need them. Oh, and just watch when someone takes the first bite (it's fun!). You'll be sure to get the questions,"What are these?" and/or "What is in these cookies?"
Oh yeah, and if they ask where you got the recipe for these Chocolate Chip Cherry Oatmeal Cookies, you can say, "Well, there's this elderly woman who has a blog..."
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- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 cup vegetable oil I use sunflower oil but any mild flavored oil will work fine.
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup rice cereal* Rice Krispies or the generic brand works fine too
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 8 ounces toffee bits 1 8-ounce bag
- 1 cup dried cherries finely chopped
- 3 cups chocolate chips I like Ghiradelli
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Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper for easy clean up.
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Place cherries on a cutting board, and roughly chop with a sharp knife (just keep chopping until there aren't any more whole cherries). Set aside.
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Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the oil and beat until oil is incorporated. Add egg and vanilla. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula and then beat well.
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With mixer on lowest speed, add the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until flour is completely incorporated. Add rice cereal (Rice Krispies or generic brand), oatmeal, toffee bits, cherries and chocolate chips. Mix again till everything is blended in.
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Scoop ¼ cup scoops onto prepared sheet pans**. I like to use an ice cream scoop for this.
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Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. The cookies are soft when they first come out of the oven so let them sit on the sheet pan for 3-5 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container or freeze. I like to freeze these cookies in a single layer on a sheet pan. When they are frozen, transfer to a storage container.
* We don't eat rice cereal for breakfast but I alway keep a box in the freezer for this particular recipe. They stay fresh in the freezer for months on end and that way, I always have them available.
**These cookies are fantastic just scooped onto the pan and baked BUT, if you want them to look really pretty (like if you have a food blog or something like that :)), randomly poke 4-5 chocolate chips around the tops and sides of the scoops of batter. When they're baked they will have some pretty chocolate chips poking out of the surface.
Dlevy says
Hi Chris. I’m lazy and don’t want to run to the store. Can these be made without the rice cereal? Maybe more oatmeal or coconut? Thanks.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Dlevy, honestly, the rice cereal is the secret ingredient in these cookies. You'd be better off going with another recipe and waiting till you get the Rice Krispies. They make the cookies super light and crisp.
Diane says
Hi Chris, wondering if I could use whole wheat flour for this reciepe? With the isolation restrictions, it has been challenging to purchase all purpose flour, some ingredients are in high demand.
Thank you
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Diane, I haven't tried these with WW flour so I don't want to say for sure. I think they will be good but maybe a little heavier. Definitely healthier, so that's good! If you try it, please report back as it will be helpful to others.
J.lew says
Hi Chris
Can the Kirkland Tart Montmorency Cherries be used in this recipe? Is that what you use?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi J, yes the Kirkland cherries are the ones I usually use!
Annie says
Thanks so much, Chris, for the wonderful cookie recipe, though I did have to make a few substitutions. I didn't have any toffee bits, so subbed about a cup of coconut for that. Instead of vegetable oil, I used coconut oil which went so well with the coconut in the cookies. I wasn't sure if you used salted or unsalted butter so I used a cube of each. I brought half of the batch to the nurses at work who devoured them in probably about 15 minutes, though, were a bit disappointed that I didn't bring them the whole batch! No doubt I'll be making these with the toffee in the near future for them... Thanks, Annie
Ann says
Hi Chris,
This recipe looks great. Could I use butter instead of vegetable oil? I'm not a huge fan of oil in baking.
Anytime I've made chocolate chip cookies, I have found them too sweet, but when I cut down on the sugar, the cookies don't spread out and remain in a lump. Is there anything you can suggest to cut down on the sweetness?
Thanks