Very Most Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chewy, soft, sweet, chocolatey, mmmm. My very favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. When they're warm from the oven I can easily slip into a sugar overload, especially when I tell myself they must be healthy, they have oatmeal!
I've always know cookies were thicker and more chewy if I refrigerated the dough before baking, but never really knew why. This month's Cuisine At Home magazine explained all that. They recommend chilling the dough until it's very cold. This way, the fat stays firm long enough for the shape of the cookies to set, meaning they won't spread thin and become crispy. Chilling also allows the proteins (gluten strands in the flour) to relax and the liquid to absorb, giving the cookies better texture and flavor. It's also important to let the cookie sheets cool between batches, then let the cookies cool completely on the sheets after baking. (if you can leave them alone long enough to cool!)

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies      (from Taste of Home, adapted)                      

 1 cup butter, softened (I use 1 stick/1/2 cup each of butter and margarine)
3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 3/4 cups all-purpose (or half all-purpose/half whole wheat) flour
1 package (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding mis
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter/margarine and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the oats, flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks (or let cool on cookie sheets)

Someone once asked me in my Extension educator job "how do you keep cookies from going stale?" I was stumped! That has never, ever, happened at our house.