Chocolate Chip Cookies                          Mark Drela,  Dec 2011

1 1/4 cups oats, either normal or quick-cooking variety
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, warmed close to melting
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 medium egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon maple extract  (see Comments below)
6 ounces of semisweet baking chocolate, or 1 1/4 cup semisweet choc. chips
  (I use Baker's brand Semisweet chocolate squares)

If using baking chocolate rather than chips, chop it into 
roughly 1/4" to 3/8" pieces using a large sharp non-serrated knife.
The chocolate must be at or above room temperature to chop easily
without crumbling.  Warm very briefly in the microwave if necessary.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer 
on high speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla,
and maple extract until well blended.  Set aside.

Using a food processor, or blender, or blade-type coffer grinder,
process oats until very finely powdered -- the finer the better.
Process in batches if necessary.  Mix oat flour, flour, baking powder, 
baking soda, and salt.   Note: One can buy convenient already-ground 
oat flour which work OK.  Use 1 1/4 cups, or 1 cup if well settled.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture and hand-mix until uniform.
Mixture should have the consistency of stiff cake icing.
If too stiff or too soft, can add a little milk or flour to get 
the right consistency.  Add chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.

Drop globs of dough 3-4 inches apart on a bare-metal cookie sheet.
Globs roughly 1" to 1.25" diameter are a good size.  Using slightly
damp fingertips (I haven't found a better way) flatten out 
the dough to about 1.5" diameter and no more than 1/4" thick.
The flattening is essential, since this dough does not melt 
and flow very much during baking.  If too thick, the cookies 
will be too cake-like.

Bake at 375F until the cookies begin to get a slight dent resistance 
to touching (they will still be soft, but will firm up when cooled).  
Start checking at about 8 minutes.  They will still be fairly pale, 
with just a hint of browning.

Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes.  
Using a spatula, transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 40 small cookies, 2.25" diameter, 3/8" thick.
Two bake batches are needed with one large cookie sheet in a typical oven.

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Comments/Suggestions

The oat flour is one of the "secret ingredients" -- do not replace it.
Oat flour makes the cookies more firm, unlike the wheat flour which 
makes them more soft and spongy.  This recipe has the right balance.

The maple extract is another key "secret ingredient".  Accept no substitutes!
But do not use more than the 1/2 teaspoon -- it will overpower the cookies.
You should try 1/3 teaspoon at first and then decide whether to increase 
to 1/2 teaspoon next time.

For extra chocolate zing, you can use up to 8 oz of chocolate.
Conveneniently this is also the entire box of Baker's chocolate.

Ovens with exposed bottom heating elements tend to badly overheat 
the cookie sheet by radiant heating.  To easily solve the problem:
Preheat oven to 450F, and turn it off after you put in the cookies.  
The temperature decrease during baking is OK, since cookies are being 
checked for doneness.