In preparing for their visit, I decided to bake cookies. When considering what kind of cookies to bake, I remembered that, when we cleaned out my Mom's belongings, I ran across a copy of my Granny's recipe for oatmeal cookies. These are the cookies I grew up eating. They are so good! To this day they are the only cookie that has ever tempted me to eat the raw cookie dough. They are that good.
The original recipe came from the back of a package of Mother's Oats, which I don't think they make any more. The only change I made was to use butter instead of the shortening called for in the original recipe. Since I don't buy or keep shortening, I always substitute unsalted butter.
I have magical memories of eating these cookies as a child in my Granny's kitchen. If I close my eyes, I can still see her bending over to take them out of the oven in her little country kitchen. She always wore her hair in a bun on the back of her head and always wore homemade shirtwaist dresses that buttoned in the front. And she had so much love for all of her grandkids. She was the quintessential grandmother who always had time and patience for all of us. She was the adult in my life who gave me consistency and unconditional love.
This is, without a doubt, the best oatmeal cookie recipe I have ever made or eaten. Our Little Princess liked them too, with one exception. In the future, I'll be omitting the raisins, Our Little Princess picked them out rather distastefully.
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sifted enriched flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
3 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place shortening, sugars, egg, water and vanilla in mixing bowl; beat thoroughly. Sift together flour, salt and soda; add to shortening mixture, mixing well. Blend in oats. Stir in raisins, if using.
Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.
Makes 5 dozen cookies.
