So, I realize that when I said I’d be sharing recipes, everyone expected that I meant blend recipes and soap recipes and whatnot.  Which is true, most of the time.  But this week, I find myself prepping for a party here in the Hollow, and no bbq is complete without chocolate chip cookies.  (Mostly cause it’s too hot to make pies. )  And I figured that everyone loves cookies.  You can never have too many cookie recipes.

So, here they are: Best chocolate chip cookies…evah. (makes about 2 dozen, depending on cookie size)

Ingredients:

Dry:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon. (I use about 2 tsps of ceylon cinnamon…yum!)
• 1.5  tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar. (I use a Florida organic)
• 3 cups chocolate chips – I use a combo of semisweet and Ghirardelli milk chocolate.
• Up to 1 1/2 cups nuts if desired. (I rarely use nuts,  instead I often add extra chocolate…because…well, chocolate!)

Wet:

• 1 cup softened butter (real butter…none of that weird artificial crap.)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract. (Real stuff, not artificial)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (about a 1/4 of a lemon if fresh)
• 2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Grind oats in blender/food processor/coffee grinder until they are finely ground.  (If you want to skip this step, you can use the oats whole, but be sure to use quick cooking oats.  Trust me on this one.)
3. Combine ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.
4. In another bowl (I recommend pulling out the KitchenAid for this), cream butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon.  Add eggs and beat until fluffy.
5. Slowly, stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture, blending well between additions.  When it’s all mixed and sticky, add chocolate (and nuts if using) to the dough and mix well.
6. Scoop round balls onto cookie sheets about 2.5 inches apart. (a melon baller is great, or for big ol cookies, use an ice cream scoop.)
7. Bake until cookies are lightly browned. (14ish minutes in a regular oven, 11ish in a convection).  Cool completely before storing.  Store in a sealed container if you want to keep them soft and chewy.