Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can assure you, I'm probably going to be wolfing down 2 or 3 of these in the mini-van tomorrow morning at 6am on my way to work. They are that good. And with oatmeal in the name - they could be breakfast, right?

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. butter - softened

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 c. flour (I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)

4 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Convince Daniel to mash bananas with a fork; then run a stick of butter out to the table in the backyard to "soften" in the 86 degree weather.

3. Combine the first 5 ingredients in KAM (my name for my Kitchen-Aide Mixer - catchy, right?). Mix until smooth, then add the eggs.

4. Combine all the dry ingredients (minus the chocolate) in a large bowl - give it a whisk or two to fluff it all together.

5. Mix the dry stuff in KAM with the wet stuff and keep the mixer going until everything is mixed nicely together.

6. Open bag of chocolate chips and brace for the stampede of children running to the kitchen. Give everyone ONE chip to hold them over until the cookies are complete.

7. Mix in one cup of chips into the cookie mix.

8. Drop by cookie-scooper onto a parchment-covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Recipe bakes around 4 1/2 dozen cookies; yet, somehow, I only have 36 cookies remaining on the cooling rack.