From the Kitchen: Maldon Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister-in-law made these cookies for a girls' night - they are SO good!  I am a sucker for the sweet/salty combo.  The Maldon sea salt is what completely makes these cookies - I bought it on Amazon, but they also sell it at Central Market locally.  They're huge, crunchy flakes (as opposed to crystals) of salt - they give a perfect salty crunch to these cookies!

These cookies are made using frozen dough; the recipe below yields a large batch (40 cookies), so the dough is perfect to make in advance and pull out of the freezer for homemade cookies in minutes!  I freeze the dough on a cookie sheet and, once frozen, transfer the dough to a freezer Ziploc bag.

Maldon Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Draper James
Yield: 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal

1 cup butter (two sticks), room temperature

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Maldon sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Place the oatmeal in a blender or food processor (I used a Magic Bullet) and blend until it's a fine powder.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, and sugar, and mix on medium speed until fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and 2 eggs, and mix until well combined.  Add the dry ingredients (oatmeal powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon), and mix until just combined (do not overmix).  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a cookie scoop (I use this one), drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.  Place in the freezer for at least 1 hour (the cookies are baked using frozen dough).

To bake, preheat the oven to 350.  Place frozen cookie dough on a greased or parchment-paper lined cookie sheet, sprinkle with Maldon sea salt, and bake for 12 minutes.  The cookies should be lightly browned on the edges but soft in the middle.