Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Surprise Cookies

I'm a cake girl, or a brownie or bar girl. I'm not a, insert audible gasp here, a cookie girl, per se.  I love pastry and soft swirls of frosting. Every once in a while, however, the inner cookie monster in me strikes. The craving hits like a ton of bricks, begging for a tall cold glass of milk for the perfect pairing.

This time around when it hit, I wanted oatmeal, I wanted chocolate and white chocolate as well, but I didn't want to stop there. I'm looking around my kitchen when my eyes fell upon a jar of Sunchowder Raspberry-Chocolate Jam. I knew it would be a perfect little surprise for the middle of these cookies.

I first learned of Sundowder's Emporia from Amy over at the Poor Girl Gourmet. I ordered up a trio of homemade jam from Wendy, which arrived in beautiful packaging. The outside of these handmade jams are gorgeous, but the product inside will blow you away. Her strawberry is like a breath of summer in the dead of winter. With it being about 2 degrees in New England today, I'll take all the summer I can get.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Surprise Cookies
Makes: about 2 dozen cookies
Base cookie recipe adapted from: Cooking Light

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3 1/3 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
heaping 1/8 cup white chocolate chips
heaping 1/8 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
chocolate raspberry jam (or jam of your choosing)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt together with a whisk, set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar until well-combined (about 3 minutes). Add egg and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture and beat until incorporated. On low speed - slowly add your flour mixture to the butter and cream mix. Stir until incorporated. On your mixer's slowest setting add your chocolate chips until they're folded into the mixture (I often do this by hand, I find the lowest setting still breaks the chips).

The cookie assembly line

Now take two cookie sheets (either fitted with a silicone mat or coated in cooking spray) and a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon. Scoop out your dough, placing the balls 2 inches apart on the sheet. Do this until you have used half the dough. Now make a little indent in each with your finger. Next, take a 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon and start placing a dollop of jam in the well in each. Once that's done, take your 1/2 tablespoon again and place a bit of dough on top of each until it is all gone. Now, give each of those little guys a roll in your hands to make sure the jam is sealed inside.

Place those cookie sheets in the oven for 10-12 minutes until they're a little golden on top. Take them out of the oven and transfer them to a wire rack so they can cool nicely.