Clemetine's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I believe this recipe came from the Ghiradelli website a looong time ago and these cookies are fantabulous. The only thing to watch out for is not to over-cook them. I cook them for 10 minutes and at that stage they are browning around the edges, but look a little mushy/runny in the middle. Don't let that fool you into cooking them longer. I just made a batch tonight and let the 2nd dozen stay in for 15 minutes. Not burned, but much browner. I recommend doing the 10 minutes (or until they look as described above), take them out of the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes or so to stiffen up a bit. Then transfer to the cooling rack. This made about 3 dozen good-sized cookies...would have made a bit more had the cookie-dough-monster not shown up! Oh...and no. I have absolutely no idea who clementine is. But I hear she's a darling.

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Clementine's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from: Ghiradelli

Ingredients:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup unsifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups oats, uncooked
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and lightened in color (about 4 minutes!). Add vanilla and egg, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir flour with baking soda, salt, and spices; add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in oats. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes for a chewy cookie, 10-12 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on a cookie sheet; remove to wire cooling racks. Store in tightly covered container.

My Modifications:
I have made these twice in the past 3 days and both times I did something a little different and neither time did I use walnuts. In fact, I used no nuts. The first time, in addition to the chocolate chips I also added some leftover butterscotch chips I had laying around. It was probably around 1/2 cup. The 2nd time, I substituted raisins for the chocolate chips to make oatmeal raisin cookies. Still tasted amazing! Next time, I'll probably try cranberries. Mmmm...