oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies

i didn't really have anything exciting to eat today so i didn't take any pictures. for lunch I had some tortilla soup from gelson's wolf gang puck express. I couldn't finish all of it and it made me naseous. For dinner I had leftover pasta. so, i thought i would post a picture of my cookies that I made this weekend. And here is the recipe too. Silly me, I thought I had a vat of lard, but i couldn't find it hiding behind all those spices. so I bought another one. Now I have TWO vats of lard (aka crisco)...what to do..what to do... anyways, MM what kind of cookies do you want me to make for you when you come?

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 3.4-ounce package vanilla instant pudding mix
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (about 6 ounces)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter heavy large cookie sheets. Beat vegetable shortening and unsalted butter in large bowl until light. Gradually add white and brown sugars and beat mixture until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla pudding mix, vanilla extract, baking soda, water, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and salt and mix until well blended. Mix in oats, then flour. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop cookie dough by large rounded spoonfuls (about 3 tablespoons each) onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies appear dry and tops are lightly cracked and soft when pressed, about 12 minutes (do not overbake). Cool cookies 5 minutes on cookie sheets. Transfer cookies to racks and cool. (Store cookies in airtight container.)

Makes about 30.

--RD