The Anything and Everything Cookie

A good cookie recipe is meant to be shared. A good cookie recipe should be one of those "go to" recipes you can make on a dime.  It's a simple recipe that can be made ahead and when you do need to come up with something sweet in a jiffy, the dough is right there in the freezer waiting.  This spin on a classic chocolate chip cookie is what I call the "Anything and Everything Cookie," because I usually end up tossing in a lot more than chocolate chips!  They're chewy in texture, great with an ice cold glass of milk, and even serve a purpose as "bookends" with some ice cream held in middle.
 The following recipe is adapted from one found on 101 Cookbooks 

2 3/4 cup rolled oats (do not use instant)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup wheat bran or wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup natural cane sugar or light brown sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar firmly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips/chunks**
**  the cookie image above has 4 oz white chocolate chips, 
4 oz sem-sweet chocolate and 2 oz toffee crunch candy

Preheat the oven to 350* with the racks placed in the middle of your oven and line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients - oats, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Using either a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in the sugar, scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times as you proceed.  Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, again scraping down the bowl a couple times.  Add the dry ingredients in a couple batches to the wet ingredients, mixing until everything comes together.  Then stir in your "anything and everything" additions making sure all is evenly mixed in.

Using a small ice-cream scoop, scoop out portioned cookies, placing on the baking sheet  at least 3-inches apart since the cookies will spread.  I find that 3 cookies across is a good number to work with. 

Bake for 15-minutes, rotating the pans half way.  They will become a nice golden brown .   Of course if you like your cookies crisper, try baking them a bit longer but keep an eye on them.  You don't want them getting too dark.