Chocolate Chip Cookies Secret Ingredient: Lemon Juice

Today is National Lemon Juice Day. I have several lemon trees, mostly Meyer lemons, so I could make lemonade, but since it's National Lemon Juice Day, I thought I'd share a secret. Lemon Juice is a secret ingredient in making chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. So if you're given lemons, make Chocolate Chip Cookies. You're not going to taste the lemon juice, but it will make for a chewier cookie. And, the reality is that since you only use a teaspoon in the batter,  you can make lemonade with the rest of the juice to go with these cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Secret Ingredient Lemon Juice

Ingredients
1/2 cup rolled oats, ground to fine powder in blender or food processor
2-1/4 cups flour  (if you have bread flour, give it a try.. it will make an awesome cookie)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened (do not microwave)**
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp Madegascar vanilla extract
1 tsp fresh lemon juice 
2 eggs
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chopped into chunks

Directions
1. Grind rolled oats in blender or food processor until very fine.
2. Measure flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in blender jar and use blender to combine all the dry ingredients.
3. Cream together butter and both sugars. Add eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir after each addition. Beat until fluffy.
4. Combine dry ingredients with wet stuff, and mix until fully combined.
5. Add chocolate chips and stir by hand to fold in the chocolate.
6. Refrigerate dough for an hour--o.k. I usually skip this step.. but if you're a purist...
7. Drop dough by large spoonfuls or using an ice cream scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Leave room for cookies to spread as they cook.
8. Bake in preheated over at 350° F for approximately 16 minutes, or until barely golden and still slightly raw.
9. Cool cookies in pan for five minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely.