Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

A pinch here, a pour there, and you'll smell goodness in the air. That is what I just did: I am baking my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
40 semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1
In large bowl, mix brown sugar and butter until blended. Beat in vanilla and egg until light and fluffy. Mix in oats, flour and baking soda; stir in chopped walnuts.

Step 2
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough and press it flat, add one chocolate chip in the center, lay onto ungreased cookie sheet in 4 x 5.

Step 3
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Repeat step 2, have another 20 cookie doughs.

Step 4
Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Once cookies are cooled, store in an air tight container.

Notes: Some changes I made from the original recipe.

1. I cut brown sugar from 1-1/2 to one cup.
2. I choose walnut as the main add-in instead of chocolate.
3. I add only one chocolate chip per cookie instead of one cup semisweet chocolate chips.
4. I preheat oven to 350ºF until I am ready to drop second batch of cookie dough, so to speak of being green in the kitchen.
5. It takes my oven 20 minutes to bake the cookies in the glass pan instead of suggested 9 - 11 minutes.

My thoughts on further experiments:

1. I use microwave 2 minutes 50% power to soften two sticks of butter.
2. I would like to cut butter to one and half sticks.
3. The 20 minute baking time is just right for glass bakeware, but it is overbaked for the metal cooking sheet. Next time I will try 15 to 18 minutes for the metallic pan, and continue bake for the glass pan. Perhaps, I need to invest for another metallic cooking sheet or glass pan just to be consistent.

Just got back the results of my physical exam in April. Borderline anemia and high cholesterol.

Top five foods to lower your numbers suggested by Mayo Clinic are: oatmeal and high-fiber foods; fish and omega-3 fatty acids; walnuts, almonds and other nuts; olive oil; and foods with added plant sterols or stanols.

Except for the last food which I don't have clue on sterols, what I eat is just as fine as it suggests, and the oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies sound like perfect fit except for the chocolate part.

P.S. Today there is this royal wedding of Prince William and Princess Kate on the other side of Atlantic Ocean. Not big deal for me, and I warn my daughter already: there is no such thing of "live happily ever after".