Happy MLK Day everyone!

It’s Jill, and I am back with some sugar. Figured you all needed a break from Matt’s artery clogging extravaganza. (I will definitely be making that Crab Mac-n-Cheese).  This will be my last guest post on this blog.  Hopefully after this I will have my own iBlog site and you can come visit me there.

Today I bring you Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies.  These were Eric’s idea…thank you Eric. On that note, I do take requests. If there is something you want to see, let me know and I’ll put it on the list.  These cookies are pretty simple to make, so even if you aren’t a seasoned baker you should have no problem here. You can also substitute the chocolate chips and walnuts with anything you want. Raisins, dried cranberries…you get the point.

A little advice, before you start, double check to make sure you have all the ingredients  necessary on hand. I was about to launch into making these and realized I didn’t have brown sugar and had to run to the grocery store at 10pm in the freezing cold. I made it just minutes before the store closed.

RECIPE
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons whole milk
2 Teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups oats (quick cook, not instant, like Quaker Oats)
1 11.5 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli)
1 1/2  cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 11 minutes (this really depends on your oven, so keep an eye on them and adjust the time accordingly)

Ingredients to make oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies

Here is everything you will need.  I use the beaters up until it’s time to add the flour and then use the wooden spoon after that.

dry ingredients for oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies

In bowl number 1 combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. In bowl number 2 beat the butter, brown sugar and white sugar together until it reaches the consistency you see in the picture above.  It’s best to cut the butter up into cubes before beating, it just makes it easier to blend it all together. But if you like things to be unnecessarily difficult, by all means put the sticks in whole.

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookie ingredient mix

Next, beat the eggs, milk and vanilla extract into the butter mixture until smooth and well combined. Now say goodbye to the electric beaters and get your wooden spoon.

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookie ingredient mix

Stir the flour, in three parts, into the butter mixture. If you dump it all in at once it makes a horrible mess and it’s hard to get it all nice and combined.

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies - adding oatmeal

After the flour is all nice and incorporated you can start adding all the fun stuff.

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies - adding chocolate chips

This is what your cookie dough will look like once the oatmeal, chips and walnuts have been folded in.

baking sheet for oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies

Now it’s time to get your cookies into the oven.  I always line my sheet with a Silpat when I am making cookies. Use this and your cookies and other baked goods will NEVER stick to the sheet. Not to mention it makes clean up much easier. You can get one of these at Williams-Sonoma, Bed Bath & Beyond, Chef Central etc.

placed on baking sheet - oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies

Roll the dough into balls and place on the sheet. You should be able to fit 12 cookies per sheet. This recipe makes approximately 30 cookies.

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies cooling

Once the cookies are out of the oven let them cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then gently move them over to a cooling rack to cool completely.

plate of oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies packaged nice and pretty

oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies with milk for Santa

This batch of cookies got mailed out to a few people, hence the pretty packaging you see above.  Hopefully they will post some nice comments here once they have received them.  Once again, thank for reading! I hope you all come visit my blog once it’s up and running. Matt will keep you posted.

these girls will do anything for money, even eat cookies