barbara bush's chocolate chip cookies

Here's the next entry in our chocolate chip cookie-a-thon.

These small, crispy chocolate chip cookies feature oatmeal in addition to regular flour. We loaded them up with semi-sweet chocolate chips, which make them a gooey delight warm from the oven. This recipe is purported to be from former first lady Barbara Bush, who died earlier this year. She supposedly said these were a Bush family favorite. Well, we think they're terrific, too!

We used a 1 Tablespoon scoop to make these, and baked them both right after mixing and after chilling for an hour. The flavor and texture were much the same, so if you're hankering for chocolate chip cookies and don't want to wait until tomorrow, this recipe is for you.

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ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick-cooking oats (NOT instant, rolled or steel cut) * see note below
• 1 (12 ounces) bag semisweet chocolate chips (Barbara liked Valrhona)

directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt onto waxed paper. Set aside.
2. In your stand mixer, beat together on medium speed butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt and baking soda until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, also on medium, then vanilla. Batter should be wet-fluffy.
3. Stir in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in oats and chocolate chips until well distributed.
4. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. We used a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop and parchment-lined pans. If you chill the dough, allow it to warm outside of fridge while heating the oven.  If you like flatter cookies, flatten balls a bit with your hands.
   
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

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* To make quick cooking oats, pulse in your food processor or blender five or six times until eats are about half the size.