Recipe Geek: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Spice Cookies with Spices and California Orange Zest

It's still snowing and I am indulging in a lazy Friday night watching UNC open a can of whupass in the NCAA basketball tournament. I'm not a hardcore basketball fan so I decided to bake cookies. I'd been eyeing the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies over at Smitten Kitchen. It's a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe with spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves) and the somewhat unusual addition of orange zest. The commenters were divided on the orange zest debate. Some loved it and some hated it. I decided to go whole hog and add the spices and orange zest, and I added a bit less sugar than the recipe called for. For the orange zest, I used one of the oranges from my old house; my parents had sent me a care package.
The dough was very sweet, and the combination of chocolate, spices and orange tasted really good in the dough, and smelled great while baking.

The cookies were very soft when I pulled them out of the oven, but then they firmed up nicely, and are a great combination of crispy and chewy. When they were warm, the orange flavor was a bit too strong. It was still pretty strong the next day. Good, but strong. I will probably use less orange zest next time around, but they are good for those peole who really like the combination of orange and chocolate.