The Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

Synonyms for gratitude: thankfulness, appreciation, guerdon, acknowledgment, response, sense of indebtedness, requital, recognition, honor, grace.

My personal favorite: Guerdon. It just somehow sounds like the right kind of word for a baked good, a little fancy but still has a heartfelt roll off the tongue.

Thus... Cookie #2: Oatmeal Cookies of Guerdon. 

Stacks and Stacks of Thanks

If you're just tuning in - this is The Week of Cookies and Gratitude.  The motive for the sweet confectionary declaration? Tis YOU, who is reading this, for doing just that - reading! What is a blog, after all, that has no readers? What is a cookbook that calls forth no cooks?   

This Oatmeal Cookie of Guerdon is timeless, delicious... Plus I have a thing for raisins. In case you haven't noticed I also have a thing for recipes that come from my grandmothers, and this one is from Great Grandmother Edna Stoltzfus, my father's mother's mother. How sweet that she provides a list of optional variations that includes gumdrops. Gumdrops? Really? If you feel so inclined go ahead, but don't say I didn't warn you. 

The first time I ever made this cookie was during a visit to Charleston, South Carolina where my sister and her family live. My niece Sofia and I took an afternoon in the kitchen with these and added sprinkles, purely for aesthetics of course. There is rarely a thing so satisfying as watching a child delight in such a simple act as stirring, sprinkling, tasting. That these cookies hold this memory and also appear here is no coincidence.

May Sofia and I present... 

Oatmeal Cookies of Guerdon

Yield: about 32 cookies

Time: about 40 minutes total, 10 minutes hands-on

Ingredients: 

1 cup sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 Tablespoons milk

2 cups rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and soda into a bowl. Set aside. This is what we'll call your "dry ingredients". 

2. In large mixing bowl combine butter, both sugars, salt, egg, vanilla, and milk. Beat with electric mixer until smooth. 

3. Add dry ingredients and stir till flour is totally combined. Then fold in the oats and stir until the oats are evenly distributed. Note: This is where you'd also add in something of your liking, as in me with my raisins. I just threw in a big handful. 

4. Drop the dough by the spoonful onto a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. (Robert always says never to leave any dough for that ungrateful bowl. And I always take his advice. This is about you, not the bowl.) Bake for about 10 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The cookie is done when it looks set in the middle.

5. Immediately transfer to baking rack and partake. Store remaining morsels in airtight container when cool.

Optional Variations: 

1. Chocolate Chips

2. Peanuts

3. Dates

4. Gumdrops

5. Raisins

6. Spices - 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Enjoy!! Thanks!!