A basic recipe for oatmeal cookies, a great way to empty the pantry of leftover nuts and dried fruit, thus never the same twice!
The day we lost my mother, my friend Ann asked, “What can I do?” Almost by instinct, I answered, “Come over. Bake cookies.” I knew the one recipe that might bring some comfort to my dad and sister and me – Mom’s oatmeal cookie recipe, the one she kept in her head and made again and again. In our family cookbook, she wrote, “This is the only cookie I make but they always turn out a little different. These are the cookies that cause the grandchildren to call Grandfather a ‘cookie monster’.”
The next morning, Ann and her three-year old daughter moved into my kitchen, figuring out the flour bin and how to set an unfamiliar oven. Shortly, the house filled with life again – the kitchen busy-ness, the laughter of a child, the aroma of just-baked oatmeal cookies, all warm and cinnamon-y. What a gift, those cookies, never to be forgotten.
I remembered that special batch of cookies last month when a friend lost her husband suddenly and unexpectedly. “What can I say?” I asked of someone who lost his wife only a year ago. “Nothing,” he said. “She won’t remember your words. But she will remember your presence.” I headed to the kitchen to concoct a comfort-food casserole that would keep in the fridge, or freeze, as need be.
And I baked cookies. When words fail, cookies, cookies can convey presence.
CONCEPT RECIPE:
MOM’s EVERYDAY OATMEAL COOKIES
Time to table: 1-1/4 hours
Makes “a bunch” my mom called it, about 6 dozen small cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt (omit if using salted butter)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
-
Two Cups TOTAL
- Chopped toasted nuts
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Wheat germ
- Mini chocolate chips
- Currants or chopped dried fruit
- Unsweetened coconut
Added Ingredients such as:
Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars with an electric mixer (see TIPS) until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until completely incorporated. Add the flour, soda, salt (if using), cinnamon and nutmeg, combine. Stir in the oatmeal and added ingredients.
Form into one-inch balls and arrange on a baking sheet. Gently flatten with the base of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake for 9 – 10 minutes or until set.
More Favorite Oatmeal Recipes
Looks like I kinda-sorta-really like oatmeal cookies: this is Kitchen Parade's third oatmeal cookie recipe, fourth if you count the oatmeal dog treats! The reader favorite is the recipe for Banana Oatmeal Cookies but I'm just slightly addicted to this old family recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
More Classic Cookie Recipes
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Your Comments:
A very heart-warming post Alanna.
Sometimes it makes me sad because I didn't have it, but for the most part, very happy that you had such a wonderful memory of her.
Thanks, I am still sorry to hear your Mom is gone.
I like the Green Tea Shortbread cookie I just had out of my freezer. It was delicious and yet I don't think it would say the same thing a traditional oatmeal cookie would, especially from your mother's recipe.