Oatmeal Cookies - THESE are now my favorites!

I like oatmeal cookies best of all and have tried many different recipes over the years. With a few tweaks to the ingredients, I now declare these to be my all-time favorites . . . until I find another one. I'm fickle that way when it comes to oatmeal cookies. Naturally, I'm willing to share.

Oatmeal Cookies - Barbara's Way

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed, dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups long-cooking, rolled oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup of chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Mix together the butter and sugars, beating until well-combined. Thoroughly mix in the eggs, vanilla and baking soda. Add the zest and mix. Add the flour, oats, walnuts, and apricots to the bowl and mix until you have a thick dough.

Drop by tablespoons on a lightly-greased baking sheet. Press each cookie down with the bottom of a glass or cup dipped in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.  A tip: Parchment paper is terrific for this as the cookies bake more evenly and there is no clean up. If you use parchment paper, you don't need to grease the baking sheets.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes. After you remove them from the oven, let them sit a moment to firm up.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies depending on the size you make.

Ideas . . .

Dried cranberries or raisins would be could substitutes for the dried apricot bits.

Of course, you can add chocolate chips!

Walnuts are not a law, just a suggestion from my own taste palette. You can use peanuts, almonds, pecans . . .

One of the best quotes . . . ever!

“Keep your eyes on the crucifix; for Jesus Christ without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever.”  ~Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Baking Day . . .

Yes, in spite of the 100 degree-plus temperatures promised us, today, I have to do some baking. My husband requested cookies for his office, my college-bound daughter is wishing for pumpkin pie, and I just discovered a new recipe for crumb cake that sounds promising. Hey, as long as the oven has to be on, I might as well fill it up with baking.

I saw a show on television where they were making a crumb cake out of cake crumbs. I found that interesting and funny that they would bake a cake in order to crumble it up to, uh . . . bake another cake? I did try that recipe but I had a leftover cake layer that needed some kind of home so it didn't feel quite so ridiculous. The crumb cake recipe I discovered, yesterday, made a crumb topping from flour, butter, sugar, etc. not another cake.

I'm thinking about oatmeal cookies. I like them with lots of oatmeal, nuts, and even coconut. If I have some dried cranberries, those will probably get thrown in, too.

Once I have 'proven' the recipes, I will post them to share. I think I'm longing for the Fall which is why my baking inclinations are coming through so strongly these days.

Sewing, as you can see from a previously posted picture, went well yesterday. I also finished the handsewing on another quilt and only need a few rows of top stitching to call it completed. I have to start sorting out my quilts and figure out Christmas gifts, too.

Meanwhile, it is time to gather up my altar boy teen and head out to morning Mass. I hope God is blessing everyone's day most generously!

Fun quotes to start the morning . . .

"Drugs have taught an entire generation of Americans the metric system."
       -- P. J. O'Rourke

 

"There is no reciprocity. Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters."
       -- Alice Thomas Ellis (We went through the hamster phase at our house and I can support this quote most heartily!)

 

"There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted."
       -- James Branch Cabell

 

"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."
       -- Jean-Paul Sartre