Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Stuff Of Legend

I've been crazy busy with my popcorn thing lately and I've had a lot less time on my hands in which to cook for fun.  I've really missed baking especially.  

Thankfully my husband came home from work last week and asked me if I could make some cookies for him to take to work for his team.

Um, yes.  Of course I can.  Thanks for making my day and giving me something fun to make!!

I guess he was talking about motivating employees and someone made a joke about how the motivating power of cookies...knowing that I'm always up for making baked goods, my husband asked what kind they wanted.

And that is how I found myself looking for a new cookie recipe.  :-)

I stumbled across a recipe for Urban Legend Chocolate Chip cookies- aka Neiman Marcus cookies.

You know that legend about the ladies having lunch at Neiman Marcus and being charged $250 for the cookie recipe after asking for it?

via Snopes.com

Of course I've heard the story over and over again throughout the years but I've never attempted the cookie myself.

Big mistake.  This recipe may not have come from Neiman Marcus, but they're ridiculously delicious anyway!

I decided that if I was going to do chocolate chip cookies I was going to do them well.

Instead of regular semisweet chips I used Nestlé® Toll House® Semi Sweet Chunks and for the milk chocolate I used a Ghirardelli® Milk Chocolate bar that I cut into slivers with a knife rather than grating.

I'd never ground oatmeal before adding it to cookies before and I have to admit that I didn't quite get it to that "fine powder" consistency that the recipe calls for- instead I left it a little rough to keep some of that rough, chewiness that oatmeal gives a cookie.

These were definitely some of the best chocolate chip cookies that I've made and they'll definitely be on my Christmas cookie plates this year!

Urban Legend Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Allrecipes.com

1 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1 Cpacked brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

2 1/2 C rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 C semisweet chocolate chips

4 ounces milk chocolate, grated

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Measure oats into a blender or food processor, and then blend to a fine powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir dry ingredients into creamed butter and sugar. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven.