During the pandemic, I have become a master of the small batch, in terms of treats. I can’t bring anything into work or give to friends, so I just made a very small cake or batch of brownies, and only a few cookies. I went with oatmeal chocolate chip. They are puffy and perfect… And remind me of the cookies they served in the college union at Geneseo. Those cookies were massive and fantastic – chocolate chip, oatmeal chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar. And in my book, being reminded of my alma mater makes me smile. That and the weekly zoom calls with my Geneseo crew – Helen, Christine, Susan, Mark, Jeff and Steve. Life can throw you a lot of curveballs and I feel fortunate I can always rely on my group of friends.

Couple of notes – I used a mix of cake flour and all purpose flour. You can use all AP flour if you want. And if you go all AP, toss in a tbs of cornstarch if you want. I used milk chocolate chips. You can use old fashioned or quick oats. I forgot to take the butter out in time for it to really soften up, so I used a cheese grater, and grated the cold butter right out of the fridge so it could mix easiee with the sugars. I also recommend forming the dough and then chill,it. Lastly, remember to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking.

• Ingredients
• 1 cup butter
• 11/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 11/2 cups flour
• 1 cup cake flour *
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups oats (old fashioned or quick)
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• *if you don’t have cake flour, you can completely use all purpose flour. You can also make your own cake flour by sifting together 1 tbs cornstarch to 1 cup AP flour.

Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients and oats. Fold in chips. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough and chill for an hour. Preheat oven at 350 for 20 minutes. Stagger cookies on a sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. (There will be light golden patches on top). Let cool 10 minutes on sheet. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely. Store in covered container. Makes 12 large cookies.