Oatmeal Cookie Time

My son, Marc, made an unexpected visit home this week-end, and I wanted to send him off with a bite of home – oatmeal cookies. I started with a recipe that I was given about 28 years ago. My friend, Barb, gave me cookies when our second child arrived – a treat for his big sister. (I think I shared some with her.) I’ve tweaked the recipe over the years and continue to play and adjust. Here’s how I did the cookies this time:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

optional: 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ or ground flax seed

2 cups butter

3 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

5 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups dried cherries and raisins mixed

Mix dry ingredients (not including oatmeal) together in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Measure chocolate chips and dried fruit and set aside.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy, add brown sugar and continue to beat until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after adding each one. Add vanilla and mix again. Add flour mixture and mix well. Mix in oatmeal 1 cup at a time. Stir in chocolate chips and dried fruit.

Scoop into balls and place in fridge to cool. When fairly cold, place on cookie sheets and bake. Bake at 350 degrees or 325 convection. I turn the sheets part way through cooking just to make sure they cook evenly. Time varies depending on size of cookies, but they take about 15 – 18 minutes. The center of the cookies is a bit soft when they come out of the oven, and I let them cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before moving them to a rack. Hope you like these as much as my family does.

Marc asked for home-made crackers, and I had one loaf in the freezer. I pulled them out, sliced and baked them. Must mix up more to have on hand. This is what they look like before baking. Check out the link above for crakers to see the finished product. (They look a lot like this but with a browner colour.) Nice to have the unbaked loaves stashed away.