Leigh’s Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Leigh Myers’ signature cookies are crispy on the edges, tender in the center, and jazzed up with spicy nuts.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup (200 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

16 tablespoons (228 grams) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (188 grams) packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (118 grams) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

4 tablespoons heavy cream

4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups (216 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups (278 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup (126 grams) cayenne-pepper-toasted, chopped pecans**

**toast pecans: 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 teaspoon ground cayenne, 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the pecans, cayenne, and butter together. Spread out on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Let the nuts cool before using.

Step 2. Keep oven at 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Step 3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Whisk it good. Mix the butter and both sugars in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until it’s creamy and screaming for mercy. Beat in the egg until incorporated, then stir in the cream and vanilla.

Step 4. Add the flour mixture and gently stir until no traces of flour remain. Add the oats, chocolate chips and nuts, folding them in until evenly distributed. Loosely scoop a rounded ball of dough - I use a 2 tbsp ice cream scoop - and drop onto prepared sheet, spacing your balls 2 inches apart.

Step 5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.