Grandmom Cookies

I love my grandmother.

She's a wonderful Texas German woman.  She used to bake up a storm: yeast rolls, coke cake, chocolate and coconut cream pies.  My favorite thing she baked was oatmeal cookies.  These are not your average oatmeal cookie.  They aren't soft and chewy with raisins and cinnamon.  They are crunchy.  This means they stay fresh a long time, which is great, especially all those years in college Grandmom send me cookies by mail.  They may have crumbled a bit, but they never lost that sweet crunch that took me back to my childhood.

Grandmom doesn't make many cookies these days, but her memory will live on as the generations after her begin to use her recipes and make them their own.

Case in point: Oatmeal Cookies.

Lena came over the other day just to hang out.  We baked, made dinner and watched movies.  It was very nice.  It's great to bring someone into your kitchen who thinks differently than you.  I wanted to make my grandmother's cookies.  Lena wanted chocolate.  I would have never thought to put chocolate chips in my grandmom's cookies, but it actually worked.  So there you go- I learn something every day.  Or almost every day, anyway.

You start with sugar- 1/2 cup brown and 1/2 cup regular.

Cream in 1/2 cup shotening.  This took a while, because my shortening lives in the fridge.  It's always best to bake with room temperature ingredients, but it is possible to work with cold ones.

Add one egg:

Lena added 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  She's so helpful.

Now add flour.  I did 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole spelt, because I'm crazy like that.  It would have been great with all whole wheat or spelt, for all you health nuts out there.

Don't forget your 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Very important for a good cookie.

Next up: 3/4 cups oats

I mixed in the oats and 1 cup chocolate chips by hand.

Now take about a tablespoon of the cookie dough

And roll it into a ball.

Place on a cookie sheet.  You might want to line it with parchment paper.

Bake at 375˚ for 12 to fifteen minutes and let cool on a rack.

I put my rack over the sink because I don't have much counter space.

So there you go.  Delicious cookies that remind me of my wonderful grandmom.

Oatmeal Crunchies
from the Parson's Table, adapted by a Player

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour (or 1/2 whole wheat or spelt)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. oats
1/2 c. chocolate chips or chopped pecans, or heck, why not try both?

Cream together the brown sugar, sugar, and shortening.  Add the egg and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients.  Stir in the oats and chocolate and/or nuts.  Form into small balls.  Bake at 375˚ 12 to 15 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

(The dough can be formed into a log, wrapped in plastic wrap, and frozen for slice and bake cookies later.)

These cookies are simple and delicious.  I brought the extras to my scene study class, and they seemed to really enjoy them.  Bake something good for the holidays.  It will warm your home, and your soul.

Or something like that...
Playing,
Meredith