Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Cookies

IMHO these really are the best. I got this recipe over 15 years ago from my friend Sharon. It went missing for a time and I tried to find it on the Quaker website but at the time, the recipe was not the same (despite a similar name) and I was despairing. Then I reorganized my cookbook shelves (a serious business) and lo and behold, found the hand written recipe once again. Oh joy!

Recently, I rechecked the Quaker website and they now have the same recipe. Way to go! *

I once or twice left out the nutmeg (it got lost in the spice cabinet) and I gotta say, it was simply not the same.

These cookies fill a deep need in me for comfort food. I dunno, there is something about an oatmeal cookie that makes you remember your childhood even if the only cookies you ate were store bought 🙂 !

I made these for the holiday of Succot as well as my crunchy chocolate chip cookies and was interested to see that while the chocolate chip cookies went fast, so did these cookies, so my little experiment was successful! These are so yum that they can compete with cc cookies. There you go!

Since I know there are those out there who will wish to cut the margarine a bit, let me tell you that I’ve already experimented with doing this and sorry charlie, it will not work. I played with additional egg instead etc. and the texture is just not right. I can’t stop you but I advise strongly against it. 🙂

What I particularly like is that you can make these chewy (my preference) by baking for 8-9 minutes and not losing track of the time and stepping away, really take them out spot on and let cool on wire racks. Then they are blissfully chewy. OR you can let them bake for 10-11 minutes (really every minute counts, hmm that must be a life lesson right there!) and they will be crispy crunchy which is also delish but a totally different texture. So, the choice is yours. Either way, the flavor is excellent.

So begin by mixing the butter/marg with the regular and brown sugar.

Till they are creamed together like so.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixer to ensure the incorporation of the marg and sugars, you don’t want unpleasant lumps. If you do leave lumps, you will see the cookies get nasty bubbles or weird pockets so it’s worth doing properly.

Next add the egg and vanilla and mix till fully incorporated. Then add the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt and spices.

As you can see, the dough is a bit sticky and thick. Then you roll it into walnut sized balls or use a cookie scoop and scoop into balls.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven (remember, you are counting minutes of baking, if it ain’t hot, it ain’t coming out properly) for the shorter or longer period as you like. Cool on wire racks and try not to eat six immediately. At least let them cool down to have the proper consistency. Store in a tin if you want them to stay crispy or a regular container for chewy.

Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/4 c butter/margarine, softened
1/2 c sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 cups quick cooking oatmeal (I much prefer the texture to using old fashioned oats which I feel do not incorporate properly into the dough)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the butter/marg into cubes to make sure they will combine well with the sugars. Beat the butter/marg with the two sugars till creamed smoothly and incorporated.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat till smooth. Then add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and the oatmeal. Beat just till mixed. Roll into walnut sized balls or scoop with cookie scoop and place on parchment lined baking/cookie sheets about two inches apart.

Bake 375 8-9 minutes for chewy, 10-11 minutes for crispy crunchy. Cool on wire racks. The proper texture will only happen when fully cooled.

• https://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipes/quakers-best-oatmeal-cookies