Salted Milk Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Love sweet and salty desserts? You won’t be able to get enough of these soft and chewy Salted Milk Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies!
When I was pregnant, I made a birth plan. It was lovely and detailed and absurdly specific. Among other things, I planned to arrive at the hospital midway through labor, calmly stroll into labor and delivery, and show up with a plate of cookies to share with all the nurses.
Instead, the Mr. ended up rushing me to labor and delivery in a wheelchair while I moaned the whole time (apologies to the unwitting couple who joined us on that elevator ride…yipes!), and I delivered the baby within about an hour of showing up. The cookies, sadly, were left in my suitcase in the car, which was left unlocked, with the door wide open. Did I mention we were a tad rushed?
P.S. Thank you to the kind soul who shut the car door instead of stealing all our stuff.
Oh birth plans, you are hilarious.
Despite the chaos, one thing did go (sort of) according to plan. After the chaos subsided and we were settled in our recovery room with the new babe, the Mr. went back out to the car to fetch these Milk Chocolate Chunk Cherry Cookies to give to our nurses.
These cookies. Whoa, baby! (pun soooo intended!) They are so good. Chewy and soft with a hearty bite from the oats, these beauties are studded with sweet tart dried cherries and milk chocolate then finished with a sprinkling of flaked sea salt. They’re sweet and salty. I simply cannot get enough. The brown sugar and chocolate satisfy a sweet tooth, but it’s the lingering taste of salt that keeps you going back for bite after bite.
Let’s just say if I were the folks who happened upon our wide open car door, I would’ve left the suitcase with my laptop in it behind and made off with these cookies instead. They are that good. One nurse stopped by our room to tell us they were the best cookies she’d ever had! So don’t just plan to make these cookies, really go make them! Like, now. Because goodness knows, things don’t often go according to plan.
And just in case you don’t plan to enjoy a whole batch of these cookies at once, did you know that you can FREEZE them for later? Check out my Ultimate Guide to Freezing Cookies and Bars.
Salted Milk Chocolate Chunk Cherry Cookies
Oatmeal cookies packed with chocolate and dried cherries then sprinkled with sea salt. The perfect chewy, soft, sweet and salty cookie!
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (16 Tablespoons) butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk chocolate chunks (about 3 chocolate bars broken into pieces)
- 1 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
- Flake sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
- Add the flour, oats, baking powder, soda, salt and beat on low speed until well combined. Stir in the milk chocolate chunks and cherries. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or overnight. If you're in a hurry, you can scoop the dough onto baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes.
- To bake, drop heaping Tablespoons of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden and mostly set. Allow the cookies to set up completely on the cookie sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with flakes of sea salt and store in an airtight container.
Notes
I have made these many times with both dark and milk chocolate and discovered I actually like a mix of the two. I also like to dot the tops with a few extra chocolate chips right after they come out of the oven for a beautiful presentation.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 222Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 122mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 3g
These made the list for this year’s cookie exchange. They look amazing. Early on in your story, you mention sweet tart cherries. I can get two types: the sweet cherry (bing type) and the sour cherry (montmorency type). Which do you recommend?
I usually buy the montmorency type. Hope they’re a hit!
I just made these and they are incredible! I refrigerated the dough overnight and used an ice cream scoop to drop the cookies. If I put the salt when the cookies are out, the salt falls off so then I tried adding the salt during baking once the cookie is beginning to set. Perfect! The only problem I have is that I can’t stop eating them!
This calls for 2 tablespoons of vanilla. That seems like a lot of vanilla. Should read only 2 teaspoon of vanilla?
Oops! You’re correct. I will make the change in the recipe as well!
Made these yesterday and unfortunately I had the same experience as Gloria – super thin cookies (despite being frozen beforehand) that were pretty greasy. They still tasted good but was disappointed with how they turned out.
Hi Alexandra,
I’m trying to troubleshoot these today to see what might be the issue. I’m just wondering–is there any chance you used quick rolled oats? Thanks for the feedback!
Hi there! I just wanted to let you know I made these again today, and I did notice the spreading out and “laciness” you mentioned. I added a little more flour and oats to the recipe to address this, but also wanted to note that oven temperature is definitely important for these! I noticed my oven was not up to temp with my first batch and this made the spreading much worse. At 350, they were perfect! I hope you have better luck next time. Thanks for trying these and for the feedback!
Congratulations on the new baby.
My cookies didn’t turn out a bit like the picture. They are flatter than a pancake, really greasy. Any others that have that problem. They are about like lace cookies. Any help is appreciated. They are very good, just way flat an greasy.
Hmm… I’m really sorry these were so flat! Did you refrigerate them at least two hours? If the dough was too warm it might have made them spread out more. I hope you were still able to enjoy them!
refrigerated them over night.
I’m going to try them again soon. The recipe has worked for me in the past, but maybe they could use a little more oats to bulk them up. I’ll report back! Thanks for the feedback.
Hey there! Just wanted to let you know I remade these this weekend and they turned out the same thickness as the pictures and weren’t greasy for me. I’m not sure what might have caused them to flatten out so much. I refrigerated for about 3 hours, used parchment paper, and also used an oven thermometer to make sure I get the right temp. They’re super cheap and have been very helpful for making sure I get consistent results when baking. Again, I’m so sorry these didn’t quite turn out for you, but I hope you’ll give them another shot!
Haha!! I’m SO glad you left your car door open. That is totally something I would do. And really, occurrences like that just reinforce your faith in humanity, right?? You are so nice to bring cookies for your nurses. I did that the first time. The second baby all I brought was my own miralax. haha! TMI? sorry. These cookies look legit! I would totally be your nurse to score some!
I feel like nothing is TMI after childbirth. Ha. And yes, faith in humanity restored!
awww hahaha this post definitely had me laughing. That birth plan was the best, though! You had your heart in the right place, and I’m sure everyone loves you for it 🙂 yay for the great soul who shut your car doors though, yeesh! What happened to these cookies and CAN I HAVE SOME??
They got devoured!! But I would totally share if you just want to fly a couple hundred miles and have cookies with me!