Everyone needs a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. This is ours. This oat chocolate chip cookie combines the luscious butteriness of the classic grandma-style cookie with the chewy texture and nutty flavor of oats and the rich warmth of extra vanilla. Our recipe is relatively light on chocolate chips, but feel free to amp up the chocolate if you prefer.

Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a food processor, combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the oats have been chopped into small flakes and the ingredients are evenly mixed. Set aside.
3. Add the butter to a stand mixer (or bowl with a handheld mixer). Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the sugars, and beat on high for an additional two minutes until creamy brown, smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla and eggs, and beat on high of one to two minutes until the mixture is smooth, satiny and fluffy.
4. Add the dry oat-flour mixture and chocolate chips to the egg-butter-sugar mixture and gently stir together by hand, using a wide spatula. You want to mix as little as possible, just bringing the ingredients together and ensuring no pockets of dry flour are left.
5. Using a one tablespoon scoop, distribute the cookies across prepared baking sheets (use silicon baking mats, parchment paper or lightly butter), leaving about two inches between each cookie to accommodate their wide spread.
6. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. You are looking for the cookie to be set in the middle, and just start to color on the outside edge.

Note: Extra dough can be portioned and frozen for up to three months. For easy baking later on, add two minutes to the bake time.

The Hungry Hounds is the food blog of Paul and Rebecca Shetler Fast, who serve with Mennonite Central Committee in Haiti. Learn more about MCC Haiti at their blog, www.haitimcc.org.