A failed experiment and a recipe

I was ready to get on here and blog about what an amazing oven I have. Don't get me wrong, I love my gas oven, but it had some features I thought were really going to put it over the top for me. But it failed.

My oven allows me to set it to start preheating at a certain time and then cook for a set time and turn off. I really haven't utilized this feature, just the preheating part a couple of times. But I was trying to make foccacia bread fresh for Bible study. Since I am usually cutting it pretty close between work and Bible study, I decided to set it up to cook on its own so it would be ready when I got home from work.

Well, my plan failed, and my bread was more than crisp when I walked in the door. So I guess there is no replacement for actually being in the kitchen while cooking.

Fortunately, I baked cookies the night before and had those to take to Bible study. The recipe makes a lot of cookies, and I purposely made them this week because I knew I had several places to take them.

I found the recipe in a novel I read recently, but I discovered that by posting the recipe, I am perpetuating an Internet rumor. The recipe is for "Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies," though apparently it is not actually the recipe from Neiman Marcus (here's the real one). And the book raved they are the best cookies ever, and while I would say they are better than slice and bake and maybe slightly better than the Nestle recipe, I don't consider them the best cookies I've ever had.

Ingredients

• 5 cups blended oatmeal
• 2 cups butter, softened (I know, that's four sticks.)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1.5 pounds chocolate chips (2 12 oz. packages)
• 8 ounces good quality dark chocolate, grated (I skipped this because I didn't have any dark chocolate so maybe this would have taken them over the top.)
• 3 cups chopped nuts (I left these out.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Grind the oatmeal in a food processor until it is a fine powder.

Cream the butter and the white and brown sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla. Stir the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda into the mixture. Add the chocolate chips, grated chocolate and nuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes, for a crispier cookie.

I usually don't half recipes when I'm baking, but if I make these again, I'd definitely half it and don't think it would be a problem.