I am baking this morning - one of my favourite activities, with eating the fruits of my labours coming close second - as I have real yen for soft, fluffy oatmeal cookies.
The recipe is an inherited one, of course: taken from a battered paperback cookbook of my mother's, 'Betty Crocker's Best Cookies', or some such. Garish photography and liberal use of synthetic food dye in the 'serving suggestion' sample goodies indicate it was likely an American title imported into Jamaica in the mid-seventies.
The loveliest thing is that the recipies are a whirlwind historical tour of twentieth century Western civilisation. The oatmeal cookie recipe is called "Best cookie of 1935-1940".
This was a childhood staple and the recipe book is heavily annotated by Mum - substituting wholewheat flour for white, brown sugar for white, etc., so probably during the brown rice - carob syrup - soya milk years!
Today, I made a walnut and milk chocolate version following Mum's alterations:
(Warning, all measurements are in US cups.)
- 2/3 cup margarine or softened butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essense
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup wholewheat flour
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- Pre-heat oven to gas mark 4 or 180c
- Cream fat, sugar, egg, vanilla
- Sift flour, stir dry ingredients together
- Mix well with batter
- Shape cookies 2in apart on baking trays
- Bake for 8-10mins
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