Imagine biting into a warm, chewy baked cookie that combines just the right hint of oatmeal and rich, luscious chocolate chunks, along with decorative and colorful M&M’s to add a pop of color and a playful crunch. A sprinkle of fleur de sel or flaky sea salt helps to add that little something extra, creating a sweet and salty combination that is simply irresistible. These salted chocolate chunk cookies with oatmeal and M&M’s are the perfect treat to brighten any day, no matter the season.
Trader Joe’s and I have a serious love-to-love ya’ and love-to-hate ya’relationship. There are days I’m excited to shop there and brave the parking lot horror that always seems to be the one necessity for every single one of their store locations. Those days are usually when I discover that they have the raspberry kringle, holiday-themed mini chocolate mousse cakes, or everything ciabatta rolls in stock. However, there are also those days when the items I’m most searching for are either out of stock due to their small inventory or just plain not there at all. I feel like anyone who has ever shopped at Trader Joe’s has had a few of those days, when you’re standing motionless inside of the store, staring at the shelf, and wondering if one of the items you love most will ever appear again or if it has gone to the Trader Joe’s graveyard. Their semi-sweet chocolate chunks always seem to be non-existent in the store. So much so, that I’m not sure if they only carry them around the holidays, or that they are just so popular that they are often out of stock. Whatever the case, if you see them, grab a few bags. They honestly do make the best chocolate chunk cookies. They’re a great size and shape, melt well, are dairy and gluten-free, taste amazing, and are extremely affordable. Seriously y’all, maybe you should grab five to six bags, just to make sure you always have some on hand and can avoid multiple trips to the store to possibly restock. I mean, come on, who wants to brave that horrific parking lot if they can avoid it at all costs?
Ingredients:
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3 Teaspoons Cornstarch
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 3/4 Cup Quick-Cooking Oats
- 1 (10-oz.) Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
- Plain M&M’s
- Fleur de Sel or Flakey Sea Salt
Directions:
- Cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed in a large mixing bowl for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg; mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
- Add the vanilla; mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until well combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
- Stir the quick-cooking oats and chocolate chunks into the cookie dough until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rest while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- When the oven is preheated, use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop mounds of the cookie dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11 minutes.
- After you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately press a few M&M’s into each cookie. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of fleur de sel or flakey sea salt. Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before moving them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
Suggestions:
- Do not preheat the oven until after you have mixed the cookie dough for this recipe. Allowing the dough to rest while the oven comes to temperature, allows the quick-cooking oats time to absorb some of the cookie dough moisture. The plastic wrap will help the dough not dry out.
- After you remove the cookies from the oven, you will need to work fast to garnish the cookies with M&M’s and salt. If you take too long, the cookies will set, making it hard to garnish the cookies.
- You can use a pair of clean tweezers to help place the M&M’s, however, I find that it’s faster to use your hands instead.
- Don’t go overboard on the fleur de sel or flakey salt. Use just a light sprinkle to make the cookies pretty and add a lovely sweet and salty flavor combination.
- Make sure the chocolate chunks have set before you store the cookies in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.
- This recipe will yield approximately 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies.
Improvements:
- Add a 1/4 cup to a 1/2 cup of finely chopped pecans or peanuts to the cookie dough.
- Replace the chocolate chunks in this recipe with semi-sweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate chips.
- Searching for more fall cookie recipes? Check out these Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Crackle Cookies, these Prize-Winning Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies, or these Chewy Brown Sugar Apple Chip Cookies.
- CLICK HERE to check out all of our past cookie recipes. Don’t forget to check out our Fall/Autumn/Halloween cookies section.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3 Teaspoons Cornstarch
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 3/4 Cup Quick-Cooking Oats
- 1 (10-oz.) Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
- Plain M&M's
- Fleur de Sel or Flakey Sea Salt
Directions:
- Cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed in a large mixing bowl for 2 minutes.
- Add the egg; mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
- Add the vanilla; mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.
- Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl until well combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
- Stir the quick-cooking oats and chocolate chunks into the cookie dough until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rest while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- When the oven is preheated, use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop mounds of the cookie dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11 minutes.
- After you remove the cookies from the oven, immediately press a few M&M's into each cookie. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of fleur de sel or flakey sea salt. Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before moving them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
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