Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like big, fat, chunky, crunchewy chocolate chips cookies,  with a glass of ice cold milk?

I know that my just busted daughter Ashton does as she just got caught snatching some of the milk and a cookie before I got my pictures taken!  Half the time I can't get food settings ready to photograph without my kids finding their way to it first.

Yeah, she thinks it's hilarious.

It was.  Kind of.

The first time I had these, Shawn's Mom made them to sell in  a garage sale we had to raise a little money for our upcoming wedding.  That was 25 years ago.  My Mom always made cookies with pecans in them when I was growing up.  I think these were the first ones I'd had with walnuts.  I know it's a personal preference but I prefer the walnuts over pecans.   Some of my favorite recipes come from my Mother-in-law and it's funny because she always says she doesn't like to cook. 

Chocoloate Chip Oatmeal Cookies 
(adapted from my MIL's recipe for Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies)

2 1/4 Cups butter softened
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups brown sugar
4 eggs
5 cups oatmeal (ground in blender)
4 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup Ghiraldelli sweet ground chocolate or 1 Hershey bar melted 
12 oz milk chocolate chips or chunks 
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1-2 cup chopped walnuts (optional...I usually use two cups)


Cream together butter and sugars.  Mix in eggs.  Add vanilla, mix.  Add dry ingredients a little at a time and blend.  Stir in chocolate and nuts.  Sometimes I use all semi-sweet chocolate buy my family likes them best when I mix milk chocolate with the semi-sweet.  for this batch I broke a big Hershey bar into chunks along with the semi sweet chips.


Roll into golf sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet (about 6-8 per sheet).  Slightly flatten.  Sometimes...well most of the time actually...I make ginormous cookies about twice this size.  There's something fun about eating a cookie bigger than your head!
Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes until lightly golden brown on top.  


This cookie dough is addictive by itself.  It's so good mixed in with some vanilla icecream and our newest way we love to eat it is sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies that are cooked.

Enjoy warm with a big ole fashioned glass (or quart) of cold milk...

 ...like Ashtonelli did. 

This is so random, but I know that if I don't bring it up now, some of you will.  You'll email me to tell or ask what the heck it is and why the heck it's there...so let's play a type of Where's Waldo?  Notice anything odd about the pic above and below?  

I know you all have good eyes because you've emailed me before when something's amiss to let me know...like the time I had a book upside down on my bedroom dresser.  

Tell me what you think it is...

...and I'll tell you just what and why it is in my next post!

Joining:  Designs by Gollum, BNOTP, Pink Saturday, Seasonal Sundays, Funky Junk Interiors

A Transferware Giveaway at Gypsy Heart & Thank You's!

Thought you all might like to know...

Pat, of the blog Gypsy Heart contacted me about a giveaway and chose to give a certificate to my Etsy shop to one of her readers.  It's for $40 and all you have to do is leave a comment on her post.    So go on over and let her know I sent you!  You'll be glad to have found this lovely lady and her wonderful blog anyway!

Here are a few pieces I just added to the shop today.  You never know, one could be yours just for posting a little ole comment. 

Also, I wanted to thank Katherine at Pagoda Road for the wonderful feature on Decorating with Transferware where she showed some of my wall displays.  

(I'm missing my toile wallpaper ;-( that was in the dining room at my old house)

Thank you ladies!

Indulge YourShelf ~ with Red Transferware

My hutch full of red transferware is mixed with some vintage lace and linens.  The hutch was Shawn's when he was a little boy. We've had this piece full of china in every place we've lived for the past 25 years!

A Masons Vista toast rack is perfect for displaying and storing butter pats.

I have lots of teapots and coffee pots displayed on the hutch.

Combining my love of poetry, transferware and vintage linens, a vintage copy of Oliver Wendell Holmes 'The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table' has found it's way into a Vista handled bowl lined with a Madeira napkin, some tassels and for a whimsical touch, vintage wooden Bingo pieces were added to the mix.

This little book is a collection of essays first published in 1857 as monthly installments in Atlantic Monthly magazine.  Befitting Holmes reputation as one of America's greatest poets, most of the essays end with a poem on that particular essays subject. I picked this up for half a dollar at an estate sale. 

I love this laughing cow!

   I wove some vintage crochet ribbon throughout this floral spray. 

My hutch displays a mix of transfer ware patterns, but they are all in the same color family so it works. Collections displayed by color or type, and in groups create wonderful presence and are visually appealing.   In addition, they personalize your home or space.

My ginormous Maling teapot gets center stage on my hutch.

The red and white linen is, I believe, a pillow cover.  It's German and is now scrunched up on my breakfast table under a pot of flowers.  Right now, it's my favorite vintage linen.  Do you ever play favorites with your things?  

An antique weighing scale hangs on the hutch and is holding a creamer where I've tucked a little transferware measuring spoon inside.  

Hope you've enjoyed this little hutch tour!

Faith Grace & Crafts
Rednesday
Work of the Poet
 Savvy Southern Style
 Romantic Homes
No Minimalist Here
DIY by Design: Sizzle Into Summer

Lollipops
French Country Cottage
Pink Saturday
At The Picket Fence

Advertising on Transferware ~ Grimwades Quick Cooker

  Transfer printing was first applied to product containers sometime between the 1820s -1830s, and to the lids of these containers in the 1840s, about 60-80 years after the process was perfected by John Sadler and Guy Green. You can read my post about the invention  and development of the transferware printing process HERE, if you'd like.

Packaging for dental products, food, hair products, shaving cream, soaps and medicinal ointments were commonly marketed in a pottery pot with a transfer printed lid until World War I, when means of producing less expensive containers were implemented.

  The transfer printing process was employed on numerous shapes beside small containers such as those used for toothpaste.  It could be found on plates, mugs, medical items, kitchen wares and other household items, commonly known as advertising wares, such as this 'quick cooker' by Grimwades.   

It's got transfer printing inside, outside and on both sides of the lid giving instructions on how to  cook with it.

Transfer printed advertising wares are some of the most collectible, and sometimes can be the most expensive, but if you are patient and look around the internet, you can find some pieces that are wonderful display objects at very reasonable prices.

My green transferware Quick Cooker was an inexpensive find (less than $30).  It is displayed without the lid and rests on top of an ironstone ham stand by Masons.  They fit together perfectly.  I have used it as a bowl to hold fresh fruit or flowers, alongside some other advertising pieces with transfer printing on them.

The Fortnum and Mason Pickle pot is one that's pretty easy to find online, and usually reasonably priced (under $20 with shipping).  

I'm still kind of playing around with displaying some of the transfer printed advertising pieces I have.  The James Carberry marmalade crock is so cute.  I love the font...just looks old to me!  I just found another one with a blue transfer print a few days ago at an online auction site.  It was only $10!  Can't wait for it to arrive!   Of course, I LOVE my Cheese dairy slab... a shop display which would have held a big chunk of cheese.

The tea container pictured above and below is another piece of transferware I have that sort of falls into the advertising category because of the printed word tea, though it does not promote any particular brand.

These containers were made in England and some printed for international markets.  French Mustard Pots are really cute!  (I'll have to show that one later)

If you'd like to read more about advertising wares with transfer printing see these previous posts, Teeth Care Meets Transfer Ware, where I specifically discussed and showed pot lids to containers that at one time held various tooth pastes or dentifrices, and I Found A Transfer Printed Cheese Shop Display, where I talk about the dairy slabs which are so popular right now, and being reproduced for home use.  You can find the reproductions online to...try to go for the ones on Ebay, they are usually quite a bit less than Joanne Hudson, even when buying overseas.  Be sure to search with the terms 'show all items including international sellers' found at the bottom of the search page or else it won't pull up pieces located in other countries.  

  I'll be doing a few more posts on this particular type of transferware because there are just too many fun pieces to collect, make use of and decorate with.  

I bid on this piece today, a Blanc Mange Jelly Mould, also by Grimwades, but lost out because the price went high for me ;-( Bummerooni!

I love the ornate detail of this medallion print on either side.  Dang, I wish I could've afforded this!

Cute, isn't it?

Until next time....

Seasonal Sundays
Amaze me Monday
Works For Me Wednesday
Mod Mix Monday
Between Naps on the Porch,
 A Stroll Thru Life,
A House in the Roses
Under the Table and Dreaming 
Southern Hospitality