This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies with aromatic gula Melaka and dotted with semi-sweet chocolate chips.
The inspiration for these cookies
I love good soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, but I also like good chocolate chip cookies, and good snickerdoodle cookies. Honestly, these cookies are a little bit of everything. I saw this cookie combination in Shauna Sever’s Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland (affiliate link). This is one of my favorite cookbooks! I decided to adapt it with a little Southeast Asian twist by adding gula Melaka. If you have been following my blog for a while, you know that I always try to sneak in some gula Melaka in my cakes, dessert, kueh/kuih.
Substitute for gula Melaka
Gula Melaka or we called it gula merah or gula Jawa in Indonesia, can be hard to find if you are outside of Southeast Asia. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore use this a lot in dessert, kueh/kue, etc. The closest to gula Melaka substitution would be coconut sugar, which is pretty abundant here in the U.S. It has a very similar aroma and taste profile
Oatmeal Gula Melaka Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Wet ingredients:
- 113 g unsalted butter softened
- 30 g sugar
- 100 g gula Melaka grated, or use coconut sugar
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract
- 55 g egg (room temperature) from 1 large egg
Dry ingredients:
- 125 g old-fashioned oats
- 128 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp fine sea salt
To add last:
- 130 g semi-sweet chocolate chips or use any chocolate you like
For coating:
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- 30 g coconut sugar
Instructions
Prepare the cookie dough:
- Whisk all the dry ingredients to combine
- Place butter in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer. Beat on medium speed until the butter is creamy for one minute.
- I use block of gula Melaka so I grated it with a grater. You can also finely chopped it. Add both sugar, vanilla and continue to beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Add the room temperature egg and beat until combine. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients and beat just until barely combined. Do not overbeat. It's okay if it's not fully combined yet. Add the chocolate chips and use a spatula to just fold them in until you don't see any pockets of flour
Chill the dough:
- Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 2 days
Bake the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. For convection oven, preheat to 330 F (165 C)
- Prepare 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. I recommend baking one tray at a time. My oven doesn't bake properly when I do two trays. Position the oven rack in the middle of the oven
- Combine the ingredients for coating in a bowl and set aside
- If you have a cookie scoop, use a 1.5 Tbsp cookie dough scoop or scoop #40. If you don't the weight of the dough is about 30 grams. You can just use a spoon to measure out 30 grams. It's important that the cookies are all the same size so they are done baking at the same time
- Scoop the cookie dough and form a round dough ball with your lightly oiled palms. The dough is easier to work with when it's cold. So try to work fast, especially if the temperature is warm where you are. Roll the dough ball in cinnamon-sugar mixture
- Place on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan halfway for even baking. The cookies appear very soft and you may think that they are not done, but don't overbake them. They will cook further outside of the oven. While waiting for the oven, the other tray can be placed in the fridge
Cool down:
- Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Don't try to move them when they are still warm or they may break apart
- Then transfer to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely
Storage:
- Once they have cooled down completely, they can be store in an air-tight container for about 5 days or so (they never last that long in our house LOL)
RECOMMEDED TOOLS
*Nutrition facts are just estimates and calculated using online tools*
How to bake oatmeal gula Melaka chocolate chip cookies
1. Whisk all the dry ingredients to combine
2. Place softened butter in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a mixing bowl with a hand mixer. Beat on medium speed until the butter is creamy for one minute.I use block of gula Melaka so I grated it with a grater. You can also finely chopped it.
3. Add both sugar, vanilla and continue to beat on high speed for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. 
4. Add the room-temperature egg and beat until combined. 
5. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients and beat just until barely combined. Do not overbeat. It’s okay if it’s not fully combined yet. 
6. Add the chocolate chips and use a spatula to just fold them in until you don’t see any pockets of flour
7. Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 2 days. When ready to bake, Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. For convection oven, preheat to 330 F (165 C). Prepare 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. I recommend baking one tray at a time. My oven doesn’t bake properly when I do two trays. Position the oven rack in the middle of the oven
8. Combine the ingredients for coating in a bowl and set aside. Scoop the cookie dough and form a round dough ball with your lightly oiled palms. The dough is easier to work with when it’s cold. So try to work fast, especially if the temperature is warm where you are. Roll the dough ball in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan halfway for even baking. 
9. The cookies appear very soft and you may think that they are not done, but don’t overbake them. They will cook further outside of the oven. While waiting for the oven, the other tray can be placed in the fridge. Let the cookies cool down on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Don’t try to move them when they are still warm or they may break apart. Then transfer to a cooling rack to let them cool down completely
10. Once they have cooled down completely, they can be stored in an air-tight container for about 5 days or so (they never last that long in our house LOL)
How to make ahead and freeze
1. Prepare the cookie dough as per instructions up to chilling the dough for 2 hours in the fridge
2. Shape into dough balls after that but do not roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture yet until ready to be baked
3. Place the dough balls on baking sheets and put them in the freeze to flash freeze them for 1 hour
4. Transfer them to a freezer bag or container and they won’t stick to each other anymore. They can be kept for up to 3 months in the freezer
5. When ready to bake, arrange as many cookie dough balls you want to bake on a baking sheet and roll each one in cinnamon sugar mixture
6. Bake in the oven as per recipe instructions and add a minute or two to the baking time
Did you make this oatmeal gula Melaka chocolate chip cookies recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag it to show me what you’ve made. Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
