Recipe for Oatmeal Cookies

ingredients

2 cups butter at room temperature (4 sticks)4 cups flour2 teaspoons baking soda2 teaspoons baking powder1 cup white sugar3 cups brown sugar5 cups blended oatmeal (see instructions and photo)12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (see photo - this is half the usual because I don’t
like lots of chips – feel free to add more!)
1 teaspoon salt1 Hershey chocolate bar, 8 ounces, grated coarsely (this allows you to cut back on the
chips)
4 eggs, beaten3 cups chopped nuts (I use pecans. Toast them first at 200 degrees for about 12 minutes
if you have time)
2 teaspoons vanillaTo make a good oatmeal cookie, I think the secret is to chop up the oatmeal in a blender or food processor to get a good consistency. Measure the oatmeal before you blend, and blend it in small batches so your blender does not clog or overheat. I don’t like blending it to a very fine powder, but almost. I like a little of the gravelly oatmeal texture in the cookie to show through. Set aside.Cream together the butter and the both sugars. It’s easy if you let the butter come to room temperature first. Now add everything but the flour and oatmeal - the chocolate chips, nuts, grated Hershey bar, eggs, salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla and mix them well. Finally, add the flour and the blended oatmeal. This gets hard to mix, so I hope you have an electric mixer! Either that, or try cutting this recipe in half.Take a large spoonful of this dough and roll it into a ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from other spoonfuls. This recipe will fill several cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 12-13 minutes. Like any cookie recipe, these baking times are estimates. Your oven may be cooler or hotter than mine. Watch for the cookie to spread out to a cookie shape and brown a bit, without burning the bottom of the cookie. You will have to experiment to get the right baking time for your oven. When testing cookies for doneness, remember that they will get a little more crispy as they cool. If you prefer a softer cookie, try eliminating the baking soda.