Welcome

I hear that when you show a house, your secret weapon is a batch of cookies straight from the oven.  Allow me to introduce the Owl House.

Allow me to introduce cookies - fresh, hot, straight from my oven to yours: Chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies.

Apparently, these once came from the Frog Commissary Cookbook - I came across them on Baking Bites several years ago, and have never needed another recipe.  Be warned: these things can, and will, be eaten with the speed and carelessness of a bowl of popcorn.  Be further warned: this recipe makes a lot of cookies.  Unless I am making them for a crowd, I cut the recipe in half (and it halves very neatly).

Also, these are truly chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies.  A person might be tempted to use raisins (though, according to the Brewmaster, no one ever looks at dark spots in a cookie and hopes they are raisins), but the large amounts of vanilla complement the chocolate perfectly, but the raisins are overwhelmed, and don't work with the vanilla to give you a cohesive whole.  There are plenty of oatmeal raisin cookie recipes out there - this is not one of them.

Without further ado, I give you:

Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies
(from The Frog Commissary Cookbook via Baking Bites)

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups oats (rolled or quick, but not instant)
2 cups chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli semisweet)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy and light brown in color (seriously, see it through to the end.  You will notice.).  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each.  Mix in milk and vanilla.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and powder, and the salt in a bowl.  Add to butter mixture, and mix until combined.  Mix in the oats and the chocolate chips.
Bake 10-13 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees half-way through, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges and a lighter golden in the center.  Allow to cool 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes:

• You can chill the dough (for, say, half an hour) before baking to get a puffier cookie.
• Pecans or walnuts would probably be delicious.
• Feel free to play with baking times - for a chewier cookie, bake until the center is still light.  For crunchier cookies, let the center become amber.

Some Questions:
Since this is a learning blog, and maybe if I write this down I will be more obligated to really nail down the answers, here are some questions I have:

1. Mixing cold butter by hand is surely a Terrible Fate.  But the stand mixer is unstoppable, and adds heat.  Does it matter if I start with cold butter, so long as I mix until it looks right?
2. I usually mix in the oats with the flour bowl.  Is there a reason to wait?