That’s good enough for me. And yesterday I decided some homemade oatmeal toffee chocolate chunk cookies would be good enough for the Homeowners Association meeting Mike and I were hosting.

But first, it was a rainy day, so you know what that means:

And now it’s cookie time!

That’s a butter-flavored Crisco stick I’m using instead of butter. I just don’t think butter does quite as good a job of clogging one’s arteries as shortening does.

Of course you remember the scene from the movie “Troop Beverly Hills” when Troop Beverly Hills needs to sell a billion Wilderness Girls cookies in order to beat the Culver City Red Feathers?

So Troop Beverly Hills puts on a concert to promote their cookies and they sing this really awesome song? “Come on down! Come on down! It’s cookie tiiiime!”

Of course you remember that! Just like I have remembered this cookie recipe in my head for about 15 years.

Seriously, I don’t have this recipe written down. But I will write it down here, just for you.

These cookies are very nutritious because they contain oats, which the commercial says will lower your cholesterol. Hooray!

After you add the oats, get yourself a spoonful for sampling, just to make 100% sure that you have not accidentally made poisonous cookies. You can do this before or after you add the chocolate chunks and toffee bits, but DO NOT SKIP THIS VITAL STEP.

Bake.

Meanwhile, cut up some cantaloupe to snack on so you can *try* not to eat all the cookies before the Homeowners Association members arrive for the big meeting.

When the cookies come out of the oven, as a safety precaution, you’ll need to have another taste, just to make sure the cookies did not become lethal during the baking process. One never knows.

You’ll need some of this too. It helps those yucky cookies go down easier. They’re like medicine. Blech.

Aaaaand… Come on down! Come on down! It’s cookie tiiiiiime!

OATMEAL TOFFEE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

2 sticks of butter or 1 butter-flavored Crisco stick
1 1/4 C light brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
2 T milk
2 t vanilla
1 3/4 C flour
1 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
2 1/2 C oats
1 11-oz bag chocolate chunks
1 C (or a little less) toffee brickle

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla and mix on low speed. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix into cookie mixture in two batches. Mix in oats. Then mix in chocolate chunks and toffee. Drop by spoonfuls onto foil-lined cookie sheets (for easier clean up). Bake about 5 minutes, turn your cookie sheet, and bake about another 5 minutes or until desired doneness. Inhale.

You can add a cup of dried cherries if you like, for a little punch of sour. Or you can leave out the toffee and just go with basic oatmeal chocolate chips. You can also use butterscotch chips instead of chocolate. Basically this is a very flexible recipe that will allow you to do just about anything you want.

Love,