Nutty Choco-Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies ended up being gifts to my coworkers out at the cab company. I assume they loved them. Heard no reports of food poisoning ...

I'm not a big chocolate chip cookie fan, but if I am craving said cookie, this is my favorite recipe on the entire planet. I found this recipe a few years ago, probably from Family Circle, and it's been cut out and hung on my fridge ever since. When I was in newspapers, I liked to whip up a batch of these from time-to-time. I don't make them as often anymore because Ryan's a purist and isn't a fan of healthy stuff (oatmeal) in his cookies.

These are seriously good though.

Nutty Choco-Oatmeal Cookies
1 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. (two sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 c. old fashioned oats (I use rolled oats that I find at the natural foods store)
1 c. chocolate chips
3/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, take your electric mixer to the butter and brown sugar. Beat until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. The recipe says to use your mixer for the next part, but I always make a godawful mess, so I use my wooden spoon and fold the flour mixture into the egg/sugar stuff. Mix until just combined. Then add the oats, chips and nuts.

Place these bad boys on your cookie sheet about two inches apart. Typically, my little dough balls are about 1 inch in diameter, etc. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes.

Eat. Love. Thank me later.