To me, these Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies (with two secret ingredients) are the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. They’re also known as Secret Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
Baking different varieties of chocolate chip cookies seems to be all-the-rage these days. If someone claims to have the most superior recipe, I’ll give it a go. I’ve tried many recipes but I always come back to this one. This recipe was on a recipe card that I’ve had for many years. I’m not quite sure where it was originally published, but I’m thankful to have it.
🛒Ingredients needed:
- rolled oats
- flour
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- butter
- brown and white sugars
- vanilla extract and a vanilla bean
- lemon juice
- eggs
- semi-sweet chocolate chips
- walnuts (optional)
✏️How to make Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies:
*The complete, printable recipe with all ingredients and instructions is at the end of this post.
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Preheat oven to 350° F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.
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Place rolled oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in mixing bowl.
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In another bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, sugars, vanilla, vanilla bean and lemon juice. Add the eggs, and beat until fluffy.
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Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, blending well. Add the chips and nuts (if desired) to the dough and mix well. Using 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie, scoop round balls with an ice cream scoop and place 2½-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
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Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
➡️Recipe Tips:
- This recipe is designed to make BIG cookies, so I use a regular-sized ice cream scoop (about ¼ cup).
- Lining your baking sheets with parchment makes clean up a breeze!
- If you do not want to grind oats for this recipe, go ahead and use regular oats. Just make sure that you are using quick-cooking oats.
✔️What to do with Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- To me, the very best way to serve these cookies is warm with a cold glass of milk!
- These big cookies are perfect for bake sales or to take to your kids’ sports events. The kids will want you to bring the snacks every week.
- To keep these cookies soft and chewy store them in a sealed container at room temperature.
And what are those secret ingredients I mentioned??
Vanilla and lemon. Lots of vanilla… 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract plus a scraped vanilla bean. Lemon juice too… just a teaspoon. You don’t taste it at all, but it helps produce a chewier cookie. I suppose there is a third secret ingredient to share too… oatmeal. Except that you put the oatmeal in the food processor or blender and pulverize it into an almost-powder. That adds a little twist to the dry ingredients.
❤️Why I love this recipe:
- Some of you may still be on the hunt, but I feel like my search for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe is over. These are it!
- Even though they’re slightly more work than plain old chocolate chip cookies, the extra few minutes are so well worth it. I’ve only had rave reviews.
- I’ve served these often enough to friends and family, that now I’m getting requests and folks are disappointed if I don’t have them. Love that!
Chocolate chip cookie recipes:
- Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Kahlua- Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Secret Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup rolled oats (regular or quick)
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped (optional-- but so good)
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1½ cups chopped walnuts, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.
- Place rolled oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in mixing bowl.
- In another bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter, sugars, vanilla, vanilla bean and lemon juice. Add the eggs, and beat until fluffy.
- Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, blending well. Add the chips and nuts (if desired) to the dough and mix well. Using 1/4 cup of dough for each cookie, scoop round balls with an ice cream scoop and place 2½-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake until cookies are lightly browned, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in a sealed container to keep them soft and chewy.
Notes
- If you do not want to grind oats for this recipe, go ahead and use regular oats. Just make sure that you are using quick-cooking oats.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thank you to Miranda from the CookieDoughAndOvenMitt.com blog for shooting some of these photos for me.
BEST recipe EVER
Was I supposed to use unsalted butter? I didn’t see anywhere that mentioned that so I used regular salted and after the .5tsp of salt and then 1.5 tsp of baking soda you need a cup of water to drink after because you’re gonna be thirsty! Very salty. Otherwise they’re alright. IF I make these again I will definitely be adjusting the recipe.
This is pretty much a copy of Doubletrees recipe
I have not seen that recipe, but yes… some have said the same thing.
I just printed out this cookie recipe to try, and made the site change to print for 48 cookies, not 24. Just wanted to point out to you, that when you do this the butter does change. From 1 lb (2 sticks) to 2 lbs’ BUT it still says the 2 sticks – so in the parentheses the number doesn’t change to 4 sticks.