S - Salted Crispy Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

S is for one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in cooking and baking: salt!  Salt elevates, it enhances, it is essential to both life and flavor.  If I see a dessert recipe with no salt, I add at the very least a pinch or it will inevitably taste bland.  This is one of my favorite cookies, deceptively plain looking; absolutely can't stay out of them, in both dough and cookie form.

While these were originally called crispy, they are both crispy and chewy.  A perfect blend of crispy edges and chewy centers.  Well, depending on how long you bake them...  If you want really crispy, bake until fully golden brown all over, and for chewy, bake until golden brown on the edges and fully set in the middle, but not pale. 

Crispy Chewy Salted Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from an ATK recipe
makes 2 baker's dozen

1 cup all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ cups oatmeal (pref. quick cooking)
~ ¾-1 tsp coarse kosher or sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until mixture is creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla, followed by the flour mixture. Stir in the oatmeal, mixing just until the oats are well-distributed and no streaks of dry ingredients remain in the batter.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and arrange on baking sheet, leaving about 2-inches between them to allow for spread. Gently flatten each ball (so it is approx 1/2 as high) with your fingertips, then sprinkle cookies with coarse salt.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until cookies are golden brown and cooked through.
Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

I used coarse kosher salt for these.

 

Crispiest when fresh, especially when baked to just golden edges.  These cookies are so simple and yet so addictive!

As part of the 2026 Alphabet Challenge, organized by A Day in the Life on the Farm, we are sharing recipes that begin with S or include ingredients or methods that begin with S: 

• Food Lust People Love: Scallop Roe Bottarga
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Sausage, Peppers and Onions 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Sear Roasted Steak
• A Messy Kitchen: Salted Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
• Culinary Cam: Squash Blossom Crêpes
• Sneha’s Recipe: Vrat Siddu With Walnut Chutney
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Sai Bhaji
• Blogghetti: Italian Sausage Stuffed Shells
• Sizzling Tastebuds: Sago Idli Sabbakki Idli
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Buttery Deviled Eggs with Celery & Shrimp
• Magical Ingredients: Sesame Scallion Star
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake