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We were traveling up the coast of California in early December when I had a lightbulb cookie recipe idea. It was a Thursday morning and we were leaving Los Osos, CA heading to Big Sur National Park. Before our departure, we decided to stop by a bakery to pick up croissants. We came across a house in the middle of a residential neighborhood with two parking spots in the driveway. There was a sign that read, “Pagnol Baywood at 3rd Street Bakery”.

Immediately, I had an affinity for the spot. It was a home whose downstairs floor was completely transformed to a tiny bakery. The owner lived upstairs. It was exactly what I had envisioned for us when I opened my bakery a year and a half ago. Plus, the name of the bakery was creepily very similar to what I almost named Aero Bakery. We live on 3rd St., in downtown Santa Ana and a runner-up name was 3rd Street Bakery. To have come across Pagnol was like seeing a mirror of the life I had dreamt up a year ago.

It was a dewy, foggy morning and the outdoor bistro tables were drenched so we decided to get our croissants to go. We had made coffee earlier that morning in the AirBNB (yes, we travel with our own pour over set-up and here’s a good one we tried recently and liked), so sitting in the car would put us close to our liquid gold. I walked up to the window (a half-opened wooden door to the front of the house) and asked for the menu. And that’s when I heard, for the first time ever, a croissant dipped in everything bagel mix on a baker’s menu. As Mike and I sat in the car and ate our croissants, we could not deny that it defeats our favorite croissant to date (La Lune’s in Melbourne, Australia). But this post isn’t about the croissant. I thought to myself, “What if I incorporated Everything Bagel Mix into a earthy dark chocolate cookie?!?!”

It sounds like madness, but I am a huge lover of adding sea salt to every baked good I make. If you’ve been reading my posts awhile, you may recall that I prefer savory breakfast items over sweet ones anyway. But even a dessert cookie could do with a bit of umami.

With only two days away until Christmas Eve, I am posting this Rye Chocolate Chip Walnut Oatmeal Cookie with Everything Bagel Seasoning for all the parents out there looking for a simple, quick, and delicious recipe to fuel Santa on his merry way.

Important note: These cookies need to be hand-mixed. As much as I love my Kitchen Aid Mixer, I have found that using one whips the dough too much, resulting in a more runny and less “full” cookie. I know that throwing it into the electric mixing stand makes it easier, but I would highly recommend putting in the effort to hand mix with a fork.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 large eggs, beaten and at room temperature
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rye flour
• 3 cups whole rolled oats
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• Everything Bagel Seasoning Mix
• Chopped Walnuts

The Process:

1. Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl and mix until creaming.
2. Add the next four ingredients and mix until just combined.
3. Stir in the flour, oats, and chocolate chips.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or until the dough is chilled and firm. (I make this recipe in large batches and store cookie dough in the fridge, making cookies as needed throughout the week. If you are busy on Christmas Eve, you can always prepare this dough a day ahead and bake them off in the evening).
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius).
6. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
7. Use a 2 tbsp ice cream scoop and scoop out balls of cookie dough, placing them 1 inch apart. Press the dough down gently with the palm of your hand.
8. Sprinkle the tops of the dough with Everything Bagel Seasoning Mix.
9. Take walnut pieces (I like to use walnut halves) and press them gently into the tops of the cookies. I typically use 2 walnuts per cookie, because I love them so.
10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating and alternating the sheets halfway through baking time.
11. Remove the baking sheets from the oven when the edges of the cookie start to brown. Rap the sheet trays sharply on the counter, to help flatten the cookie a bit more. I learned this trick working as the midnight baker for Rye Goods.
12. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes.
13. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack and cool completely for 30 minutes.
14. Serve or store in an air-tight container (a tupperware would do) for up to a few days.

I make these cookies a day ahead all the time! I love to eat them fresh, so I will bake 4 each day for the house. Also, this recipe makes about 36 cookies, so don’t be afraid to cut it in half, which we also do.

I know it sounds like a lot going on, but in my opinion, it’s a well balanced cookie. You can always substitute walnuts with pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, or pistachios. If you want to make it extremely festive, why not through all of them on there! Santa won’t mind.