Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Crispy outside and chewy inside, these are wonderful chocolate chip cookies. You’ll never guess what’s in them.
In the food world, there are few things as elusive or sought after as the perfect chocolate chip cookie. This recipe from my friend Carrie might just have my vote. When she first sent it to me, I thought, “Geez, she sure threw the whole kitchen sink in there.” But Carrie is a great baker so I tried them, and I’m not sure I’ve ever had a better chocolate chip cookie. The secret ingredient? Actually, there are two. The first is oatmeal, which is finely ground so that it lends the desired chewiness without drawing too much attention to itself. The second, believe it or not, is coconut. Weird, I know, but you can barely taste it and it makes these chocolate chip cookies out of this world.
“Such a great recipe— I try all different kinds of chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one is definitely at the top!”
What You’ll Need To Make Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats: Adds a subtle nutty flavor and chewy texture when ground.
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides the structure for the cookies. Measure by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off to ensure accuracy.
- Baking Powder: Helps the cookies rise and become fluffy.
- Baking Soda: Ensures even spreading and browning.
- Butter: Provides richness and moisture.
- Light Brown Sugar: Adds sweetness and a hint of molasses flavor. When measuring brown sugar, always pack it tightly to eliminate air pockets.
- Granulated Sugar: Contributes to the sweetness and texture of the cookies.
- Large Egg: Binds the ingredients together and adds moisture.
- Vanilla: Enhances the flavor of the cookies with its aromatic richness.
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips: Provides rich chocolatey bites throughout the cookies.
- Sweetened Flaked Coconut: Adds a touch of sweetness and chewy texture.
- Pecans: Introduce a crunchy texture and nutty flavor — a wonderful pairing with the chocolate chips.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
To begin, place the oatmeal in the bowl of a food processor or blender.
Process until finely ground.
In a medium bowl, combine the ground oats with the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Whisk to combine and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar.
Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the egg and vanilla.
Beat to combine.
Add the dry ingredients.
Beat at low speed until just combined.
Add chocolate chips, coconut and nuts.
Mix well.
Working with 1-1/2 tablespoons of cookie dough at a time, form balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between them.
Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until edges of cookies begin to crisp but centers are still soft, 12 to 14 minutes.
Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 minute, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
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Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
Crispy outside and chewy inside, these are wonderful chocolate chip cookies. You’ll never guess what’s in them.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ground in a food processor or blender until very fine
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla
- ⅔ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup loosely packed sweetened flaked coconut
- ¾ cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Adjust racks to upper- and lower- middle positions and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and vanilla; continue beating until combined. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, coconut and nuts and mix until evenly combined.
- Working with 1½ tablespoons of cookie dough at a time, form balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between them. (Keep remaining batter cool in refrigerator while first batch cooks.) Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until edges of cookies begin to crisp but centers are still soft, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 minute, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The Cookie Dough can be Frozen for up to 3 Months: Scoop the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) To Freeze After Baking: Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 146
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Sugar: 11 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Sodium: 92 mg
- Cholesterol: 18 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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The ground oatmeal & coconut elevate this cookie to something really special. Made a batch, baked some fresh and scooped froze the rest; just as great baked out of the freezer when friends drop by or just a treat.
Great recipe! My favorite chocolate chip cookies!
instead of grinding the rolled oats, can I use instant oatmeal? (the ones that are thinner)
Thanks
Hi Jane, The recipe will work but the cookies will have a slightly different texture than they do with the ground oats.
Made these without the nuts, doubled-up on the chocolate chips and used unsweetened flaked coconut. The BEST!
I’m going to try these for tonight! Looks delish
Hi,
The cookies turned out delicious !
I baked them for only 9 minutes (I never bake cookies longer).
Thank you for the recipe.
Next time I’ll buy rolled oats in advance, and compare.
Thanks again.
I made a mistake right off the bat with these and added regular oats (in flakes, without processing them finely) to the flour mixture before I realized my “woops.” Instead of throwing the ingredients out and starting over, I continued, but added 1/4 C. finely ground pecans (like flour) to the dry ingredients. We also had no chocolate chips, so we took dark Ghirardelli chocolate squares (72% cacao) and chopped them into small chunks/chips to use in place of the chocolate chips. I baked these exactly as directed. These turned out fantastic, although probably denser in texture and not quite as sweet as the original recipe (which I will try in the future to compare). But my husband and I both loved the texture and flavor of these, mistakes and all!
Not sure if anyone has asked; will texture change if unsweetened coconut is substituted? Thx!
Hi Marivic, I think the cookies might end up a little dry with unsweetened coconut.
This recipe sounds amazing and I want to try it but I couldn’t find parchment paper at any of the stores that I went to. Can I use foil or grease the cookie sheet?
Hi William, Just grease the cookie sheet — the parchment is just for easy clean up. Enjoy!
I made these last week. The dough tasted great! The cooked cookies taste great! They are even great frozen (I froze some of the baked cookies in anticipation of my mom coming to visit)! These will now be my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Thank you Jennifer for sharing the recipe.
I had to omit the pecans as I planned to offer these cookies to a child with nut allergies, and I don’t think it was a great loss, though I love pecans and would try them next time. The cookies were plenty sweet, even though I used only slightly more than a half cup of chocolate chips and *un*sweetened coconut flakes. Unfortunately, the bottoms of the cookies were burnt black after 15 mins. at 350 degrees, even though I rotated the cookie sheets halfway through the baking process. I was surprised that they were overdone, given that my oven usually requires the upper end of the baking time range. Oh well, cookies burnt, lesson learnt (will watch them more closely next time!)
Hi Jenn, That’s strange that the cookies burnt on the bottom. Perhaps your oven is running hot? The only other thing I can think of is that maybe your oven was not fully preheated. Sometimes the initial surge of heat from the bottom of the oven during preheating will burn the bottoms of the cookies before the tops are done.