Grandma's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's interesting how the roles in our lives reverse as time passes. When I was a little girl, my grandmother patiently helped me measure, let me stir the cookie dough and encouraged me to make the criss-cross with the fork tines on the peanut butter cookies. As her Alzheimer's progressed the past several years, I was the one who helped her read the recipe, encouraged her to measure and helped her stir the cookie dough. Unfortunately, the Alzheimer's disease has now progressed to the point my young son has similar physical abilities.

As heartbreaking as that is, my grandmother's spirit still lives on. Each time I bake one of her recipes, she is alive and well in my kitchen. Her love and matriarch spirit shine through with each cookie that is shaped.

This recipe of hers is truly a Kassie family recipe. It calls for a pound of butter. It calls for cookies shaped the size of golf balls. It makes a lot of delicious cookies. And it brings back many happy memories.

Grandma's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
4 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
5 cups oatmeal, blended until powdery
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
24 oz. chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional
4 oz. sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients, stirring just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts if desired and chocolate chunks.

Shape dough into golf-sized balls and place on a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheets 2 to 3 minutes, and then cool completely on wire racks. Makes enough cookies for all Grandma's children and grandchildren.