Cowboy Cookies

Okay, this post is for Pam, Bryan Walker, and David. (Funny, now that I wrote Walker I am remembering it was a Wendy Walker who first made these cookies for my family to eat on the way back to evening church after we'd spent the afternoon at their home in Fayetteville, Arkansas.) Get wild with substitutions. Like when I take out the chocolate chips for Peter's sake and substitute craisins and a mess of cinnamon.

Cream 2 sticks butter, 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar

Beat in 2 tsp. vanilla and 2 eggs

Mix in 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix in 2 cups oats

Mix in 1 cup walnuts (optional), 1 cup or more chocolate chips (not optional for Jeni), 1 cup shredded coconut (optional).

Eat some of the dough.

Drop by spoonfuls, small or large, and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Some really wonderful variation I picked up from the cooking channel was to preheat the oven (each batch! expensive) to 500 degrees. Shape your dough into balls larger than a ping pong ball, smaller than a tennis ball, and set about 8-10/cookie sheet. Bake for normal length of time, reducing heat to 325 as soon as you have put in the cookies. The cooled result is a crispy cookie on the outside and almost cookie dough on the inside.