Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lately, I'm on an oatmeal kick.

The thing is, I don't even like oatmeal--at least not in its "natural" form. You won't catch me eating it as a bowl full of mush. Gross.

Put it in some baked goods, however, and I love oatmeal.

I'm on a search for awesome dessert recipes that contain--you guessed it--oatmeal. For a trip over to a friend's house, I started with Allrecipes.com, and turned up this recipe for chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

I spiced them up at bit by using a mixture of semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate/peanut butter chips, since that is what I had on hand. You could change these up by using a variety of different mix-ins--white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, cinnamon chips, raisins, craisins, toffee bits, walnuts, etc. Go crazy!

These turned out lovely--they reminded me of a tasty cookie you'd pick up in a little cafe somewhere. And they were really easy to throw together, too, which always helps make a recipe a winner in my book!

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional; I omitted)
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or any other mix-in you'd like)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.