Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies aka Plow Payment

Well we made it through the blizzard. The snow starting falling mid-morning on Friday and didn't stop until Saturday early morning. At some points it was coming down as fast as 3-4 inches an hour. Combine that with 50-60 mile an hour winds and you have yourself a pretty intense Nor'easter.

We didn't lose power, which we were very thankful for. On Saturday 184,000 homes here were without power, which means without heat! Yikes!

When we woke up Saturday morning there was a lot of snow...I mean a whole lot. I've lived in Rhode Island my whole life, experienced the blizzard of '78, but I don't ever remember seeing this much snow. We had to open the front door in the morning just to be able to see outside. Snow had drifted up to most of the windows. The doors were snowed in too, so we ventured out to the garage to get out. We measured 31 inches when we opened the garage door. I have a picture to prove it.



John shoveled a path to my birdfeeders. They were swarming around his head trying to get to the seed. We filled our feeders up 3 times! Hungry birdies. Most of them were perched on the gazebo frame waiting their turn.



That fence you see covered in snow is about 4 feet tall.



We were offically snowed in.

It took all day to shovel us out. It's times like this when having teenage boys comes in mighty handy. They worked on uncovering the back door.



Here's a little before and after.



There was a whole deck under all that snow.

Luckily we have wonderful neighbors who have a plow. Our friend Tom came and did the end of the driveway for us, saving us hours of shoveling.

What does Tom ask for in payment for plowing?

COOKIES!

I can handle that. I happily spent the day inside cooking and baking. Tom got a plate full of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and some Blueberry Banana Bread (post coming!).

We were happy and he was happy. Win win!

We spent the afternoon relaxing. John was pooped. The rest of my day pretty much looked like this:




I cuddled up in my blanket. John snoozed on the couch. I drank tea. I read magazines. I lit candles. It was perfect.

I love a snow day.

Here's the recipe for the cookies. They made the day even more perfect.





Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

Oven to 350 degrees. Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside. Cream together the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then mix in the vanilla.

Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula, then stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Using 2 heaping tablespoons per cookie, roll the dough into balls and place on the cookie sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookie edges are just turning golden brown, but the middles are still quite pale, about 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.