Recipe Share Friday ~ Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe comes from a book called, The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook by Christopher Kimball. I changed it slightly when I made them, but they disappear quickly, so my changes must be good!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 c rolled oats
2 sticks butter, softened but still firm
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp baking powder
12 ounces chocolate chips *
4 ounces grated semisweet chocolate *
1 1/2 c chopped pecans or walnuts *
(* These three ingredients I left out! In their stead I added 1 c milk chocolate mini MM's and about 3/4 c caramel chips)

1. Heat oven to 350*. Place oats in a blender or food processor and blend until very fine. (I blended until it was basically flour consistency).
2. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat 20 seconds after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat for another 15 seconds to blend.
3. Whick together the flour, processed oats, baking powder, and salt. With a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. (This will be difficult since the batter is very stiff.) [I blended the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with my mixer, not by hand.] Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts. (The easiest method of grating chocolate is to use a heavy-duty food processor, fitted with the metal blade.)
4. Form dough into balls about 2 inches in diapmeter and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. (The parchment paper is optional). [I just dropped the dough by spoonfuls. I also chose not to use parchment and it was fine.] Bake 14 to 15 minutes on the middle rack or until the bottoms are lightly browned. The cookies should still feel a bit soft at this point. (They will not spread very much and will look undercooked. Do not over-cook or they will become hard and dry when they cool.) They will harden as they cool. Removed from oven and let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to cooling racks. Cool at least 30 minutes before serving. (Good luck with that last one! HA!! ;-) )

Makes 30 - 36 large cookies.

I got about 40 cookies and they were medium-ish sized. Those didn't make it through the evening.

Enjoy!