Early in my career I handled a West Coast territory, and I was traveling four days a week. One of my all-time favorite places to visit was Oregon. I loved the geography, my clients, and, mostly, all of my friends who lived there. During one trip, I was in Eugene, OR. staying with my friends, Gayle & Kerry, who had just returned from the Oregon State Fair. Kerry's an amazing cook, and she was fired up because she had scored the "winning" chocolate chip cookie recipe from the fair and was excited to try it out on us. Gayle and I thought it was only fair for US to judge whether the cookies were award-worthy or not. After a half-dozen samples, we admitted these were, in fact, worth every accolade given.

Here for you now, is that recipe! This is what you'll need:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups rolled oats (NOT instant or quick cook)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
12 oz chocolate chips
1 1/2 - 2 cups chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Then, in a large bowl cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar.Add eggs and vanilla and beat together. Add to the butter and sugar mixture. In the meantime, put oatmeal in a blender or food processor one cup at at time and blend into a fine powder.I always opt for the blender in this exercise, but no matter how careful I am, it's a messy process. Consider yourself forewarned. This oatmeal blending process IS the secret step in this recipe, so don't skip this step!In a separate bowl combine oatmeal, flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.Add the chopped nuts. I opt for pecans.Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Better to under than overcook these bad boys.While the cookies cool, take a jog around the neighborhood, swing through the gym, or do whatever you need to do not to feel guilty about the over-indulgence brought on by having these cookies in the house. Enjoy!!

Award-Winning Chocolate Chip Cookies