Soft and Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Cookies: My Fave for 20 Years!

Soft, yet crunchy chocolate chip cookies, with perfect crispy edges, uniquely flavored with a touch of cinnamon. This is a simple, basic, no-fuss recipe with incredible results. Seriously, I have been making these chocolate chip cookies at least monthly for the past TWENTY years! You will never go back to your old basic recipe!

What makes these cookies the BEST?

• Cinnamon: These cookies are unique in that they include cinnamon. They don’t taste strongly of cinnamon or give you Christmas vibes, the cinnamon just gives these cookies another level of flavor beyond the basic butter and vanilla flavor of all the other chocolate chip cookies out there. Give them a try!
• Crunchy yet Soft: The brown sugar give these cookies a crispy, crunchy, caramelized outer edge, while still being totally soft on the inside.
• Oatmeal: The small amount of oatmeal keeps the cookies soft on the inside, without having the texture of a traditional oatmeal cookie.
• Extra Chocolate: This recipe calls for more chocolate chips than the average. And the type of chocolate chips you use can elevate these cookies to astronomical heights of deliciousness. While your basic store brand or Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips will be totally fine, consider using a higher quality chocolate chip. The difference will blow your mind.

Obligatory Recipe Story

Back in middle school, during our study of the rainforest, our 7th grade class decided to raise funds to protect it. We wanted to buy land in the Amazon to stop it from being cut down. So, we came up with a plan. We made these special cookies at home and sold them in the school cafeteria at lunchtime for a few weeks. (These cookies are bake sale worthy!) Our teachers insisted that we bake the cookies, not our parents. This recipe is simple enough for kids!

The cookies were packed with ingredients from the rainforest like vanilla, chocolate, and cinnamon. We told everyone buying them that they were helping save the rainforest by supporting our cause. And you know what? It worked! We managed to reach our goal.

I can’t recall exactly how much land we bought, but I do remember those cookies being a hit! Ever since then, I’ve been making them regularly. They’re just too good to forget!

How to Make Soft and Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Equipment

Some Amazon affiliate equipment links are below. If you purchase something through one of my links, I may make a small commission at no cost to yourself:

K-Tec Grain Mill

Spatula

Cookie Scoop

Silicone Mats

Whole Wheat

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
• 1 12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips. A 12 oz. package equals about 2 cups.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Soften the butter. Either leave at room temperature until soft, or put in the microwave on defrost until soft. Try not to melt it, but if you do, your cookies will still be delicious, though they might look a little flat.

Cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat for a minute until combined.

Add the flour, baking soda (make sure there are no lumps,) salt, cinnamon, and oatmeal, and stir until combined. The dough should be very stiff.

Add the chocolate chips and stir until combined.

Get out three baking sheets. I like to use silicone mats on mine. You can also use parchment paper, or nothing. Either way, you don’t need to grease the baking sheets.

Use a 2Tbs/1oz cookie or ice cream scoop to measure out equal portions of dough. If you don’t have one, just measure about 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie and shape it into a ball. I like to scoop the dough with my ice cream scoop and press the dough into the scoop using the side of the bowl. Then drop the dough onto the cookie sheet. Place the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. You should have about three dozen dough balls.

Bake for about 13-15 minutes. Check the cookies at 13 minutes and look carefully at the edges of the cookies. If the edges are light golden brown, they’re done! If not, bake for 2 more minutes.

Let the cookies rest on the pan on a hot pad or cooling rack for about five minutes. Then use a spatula to remove them from the pan onto a cooling rack.