Yesterday I made a big batch of my best chocolate chip cookies to take around the neighborhood for Christmas gifts. I don't really know anyone in my neighborhood. People seem to keep to themselves a pretty good bit here, and we weren't exactly the best about making a point to get to know people either when we first moved in. Then we weren't so new in the neighborhood anymore, and after you've been waving at someone from your driveway for six months, it feels awkward to say "Sorry, what is your name exactly?" Life got busy, what with baby-having and all, and here we are, two years after we moved in and I still don't know my neighbors that much better than I ever have.

So, figuring that Christmas is perhaps the one time of year when you can knock on people's doors without seeming like a vacuum cleaner salesman, and since I am now armed with a totally cute baby who makes a great conversation-starter, I made some cookies, loaded Kate up in her stroller and went around to spread Christmas greetings and chocolate this afternoon. Kate was not happy about the part of the plan where we would give away most of the cookies. Dan, on the other hand, took a bunch to give away at work and then made me swear that by the time he got home they would all be out of our house, because he can't eat one without eating a half-dozen or so. I am not trying to brag, but these are some good cookies.

It's weird to walk around a suburban neighborhood in the middle of the day. Almost no one is home, and the people who do answer the door are clearly very suspicious about why you are there. But I just left the cookies with a little pre-prepared note when no one was home, and the couple of people I did talk to were nice once they realized I was not trying to sell them Amway products or something. In recent weeks, I have met one of our neighbors who was out and about one morning when Kate and I went on a walk. Her name is Donna and she drives a schoolbus and lives a few doors down with two of her sisters. Another sister of theirs lives in the house directly behind them, so apparently it's a close family. And when Donna got my cookies after she came home from work, she came over and we talked about baking and she said she's going to bring us some cake soon. So I think the whole thing was a success. You can't beat exchanging chocolate for more chocolate. Below is the cookie recipe, in case you are looking for a good one.

Haley's Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Makes approximately 60 cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 and 1/2 cups blended oatmeal (measure it first, then run it through a food processor or blender to a fine powder, a little coarser than flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces chocolate chips

Cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda, blending together well. Add dry ingredients gradually. Add chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 375. The tricky part about these cookies is that they are actually at their best if they look somewhat underdone when they come out of the oven, because as they cool, they set, but at first, they just seem like a gooey mess. For my oven, the perfect baking time is 10 minutes, but experiment and see what works for you. I generally let them sit for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool, which is where they will set so that they have a good chewy texture. Enjoy!