The house was dark, all was quiet, and my tummy had me wandering into the kitchen looking for a little somethin' somethin'.  I love my monster cookies, and I was having a craving at, oh, around about midnight!  When I went to the pantry, I found nothing there to satisfy my craving:  a box of jello, raisin bran, Spaghetti noodles, and a couple of cans of Campbell's just weren't doing it for me!  I considered making popcorn, but didn't want to wake up the entire house with the hot-air popper!  Upon opening the fridge, I found the remains of Sunday night's pot roast, now permanently encased in a layer of lard that I seem to remember on Sunday as a sumptuous broth.  Someone had evidently decided to sneak a peek at the salad earlier, because the plastic wrap was partially off, & the lettuce leaves were a little wilty.  In the door were several pots of mystery sauces with fancy names like cilantro-walnut pesto & orange lavender sauce that had me shuddering in my slippers.   The freezer didn't reveal much, either:  frozen spinach, raw mystery-meats in various freezer bags for convenient packaging ( next time I'll have to label those...), and the infamous empty ice-cream carton that has the ice crystals in the bottom my children just don't seem to want to throw away, but yet that can't be scraped off the bottom of the container even with a metal spatula...I know, I've tried.  Upon looking around despondently, there was only one thing left to do.  I opened the baking cupboard & raided my supplies!  I had no chocolate chips, but there were white chips from fudge made at Christmas.  I even had half-a-bag of red & green M-n-M's that had somehow managed to survive for almost 4 weeks like a refuge on the shelf, without being discovered & devoured!  Then I located the mint chips, and that creamy mint green color was calling to me!  There was just one thing missing from my crafty concoction, the main ingredient to any late-night craving:  Dark Chocolate!  One final delve into the depths of my kitchen drawer & out came a box of dark cocoa powder.  With excitement, by the light of the stove, I began measuring & mixing like Dr. Jekyll with his creation...I'm sure with the bed-head & robe, from behind we probably looked similar too.  Before long, the Midnight Monster Cookies were born, and WOW, they were dreamier than anything I could've imagined in my midnight stupor!  Not only were they created around midnight, but they are also as black as midnight.  Now, if there is one thing that I love more than a cookie, it's a cookie with a hot cup of coffee.  By the time the first batch went into the oven, it was something-in-the-morning o-clock, so I figured why not brew the java?  It's 5am somewhere, right?  A little late-night latte, and a large, warm midnight monster cookie later, and I was curled up on the couch sleeping like a baby!  May my midnight monster cookies bring you sweet dreams as well!

-Cheers


MIDNIGHT MONSTER COOKIES:


2 cups shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk or buttermilk
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups quick oats
1/2 cup m-n-m's
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup mint chocolate chips

    Mix it all up, baby, & bake by the BIG BATCH, about 8 at a time!  400* oven, 10 minutes, then let 'em rest a few
Yummy! 

Note:
Best eaten warm at midnight!