Chocolate chip cookies are already pretty good to begin with. Add in a few handfuls of snack-like ingredients for crunch and chew, and they get even better.
I don't remember eating a plain chocolate chip cookie very often growing up -- this is the version I know and love. The cookie dough of this recipe is exceptional, and you should be warned that it's almost impossible to stop eating once you sneak a spoonful.
The batter will look too heavy and overloaded once you add in the extras, but that's how it should be. You're aiming for about a 50/50 ratio of "mix-ins" to batter for the dough.
The recipe below is a loose guide based on what I like (toasted pecans, raisins, shredded coconut, Grape-Nuts, and chocolate chips), but you can easily swap in more and less of any of those -- or something else altogether. Crystallized ginger would be good, as would dried cherries or milk chocolate chips or cornflakes.
Grape-Nut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup Grape-Nuts cereal
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little bit at a time, beating until well combined.
Add the oats, chocolate chips, coconut, raisins, cereal, and toasted pecans. Stir into the batter until mixed fully. If you're doing this in a stand mixer, you might want to use a spoon or spatula for this step, as the dough will get very hard to mix with all the add-ins.
Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes, or up to overnight.
Using a spoon or your hands, drop balls (about 2" in diameter) onto your baking sheets. Leave some room, as the cookies will spread, especially if you haven't chilled your dough overnight.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes, until they're just beginning to brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven and let cool on a rack.