The Cookie Project: Soft Oatmeal Cookies

Warning: These cookies might trick you into thinking you are eating "healthy." My friend Kathryn Trattner Herd (aka "Katie") is a writer, librarian, wife, and mom expecting her second child in August.  Her recipe bakes out wholesome puffs of goodness with just the right amount of sweet- kind of like Katie! Make a batch of good old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies and show her some blog love by clicking on her link to read about her writing goals and works in progress!



Soft Oatmeal Cookies by Kathryn Trattner

Katie is a garland around your beautiful long blond hair kind of girl!

My mom learned to cook in my Great Grandmother's Kansas farmhouse kitchen. The two story white farmhouse I visited growing up wasn't the one of her childhood but I can't imagine that there was much of a difference when it came to dinners served.

Our summer visits were made up of fresh catfish fried in a cast iron skillet, homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn, and cantaloupe. Ice tea was a given, a big pitcher on the table and everyone's glasses full of ice. And from the oven the scent of oatmeal cookies made from scratch.

Growing up our house wasn't a chocolate chip cookie house like my friends were. If cookies were getting made they'd be oatmeal. And my mom would make them in great big batches - just like her grandmother had. Pan after pan would come out of the oven to cool - all available counter space covered and the whole house smelling like vanilla and raisins.

Recipes were read but rarely followed. I asked my mom what her recipe was for oatmeal cookies and she pulled out my Great Grandmother's cookbook and looked it up. But when I asked her which one she said all of them and then listed the things she'd change.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup raisins
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar (I love the low sugar in these cookies) 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup oatmeal- dry (I used Quaker Oats)
2 cup flour

Combine raisins in water and cook 5 minutes (This makes the raisins soft- who knew?!); drain and reserve 5 tablespoons juice and combine juice and baking soda.

Cream sugar and shortening - beat in eggs and flavoring. Stir in oatmeal, salt, and raisins. Add juice, soda mixture, and flour.

Drop by spoon and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

P.S. From Katie:

Soft Oatmeal Cookie Care Package

"I wouldn't consider myself an oatmeal cookie person - I'd rather have a Snickerdoodle or shortbread. But more and more I find myself reaching for an oatmeal cookie. It's a piece of my childhood. It doesn't matter if the cookie has come from the store or a coworker; it's always going to be a little piece of my mom. I still see her standing in the middle of the kitchen, the sink full of bowls and mixing spoons, flour dusted on the counters, and the ticking of the timer as we waited for the cookies to come out of the oven".

My batch made up two dozen, you might want to double if you were planning to share because they are THAT GOOD!

Mindfulness Monday: Be still this summer!

Chair made with love by Sweetness

There are only four weeks left of summer break before the hecticity of back to school begins. Take this opportunity to intentionally wind down and be still as a family.

Simplify.
Sit outside.
Read under a tree.
Make s'mores.
Capture (and release) some fireflies.
Listen more.
Talk less.
Be still.

I can make memories in the stillness of summer.

The Cookie Project: Impossible Chocolate-Scotchie Chip Cookies

If you give a counselor a cookie . . .  she will want the recipe (and a story to go with it!)

Welcome to The Cookie Project!  Summer is heating up and while most people might crave ice cream I have a seasonal hankering for cookies.  All kinds of cookies.  The serving size is built right in!  I hope you will follow along with some creative kitchenry as I collect cookie recipes and stories from awesome people. By the end of the summer we will have a cookie cookbook- and learn a lot about the sentimentality of sweets. My goal is to make every single recipe in my "test kitchen" so if you live close by I will be happy to share samples!

Why cookies? All of my childhood summers were spent in Texas, visiting my multi-talented and super special Grammy.  One of her many remarkable talents was baking.  Cookies.  All kinds of cookies.  Goodness stored  in an airtight rectangular Tupperware safely stored at the top of her Frigidaire. The container was originally designed to fit a Texas sized sheet cake, but Gram found a higher purpose. I can still smell the mix of sugar, butter, and morsels that welcomed me each time I  peeled back the lid.  Just one more . . .

"Scotchies" were one of my favorite Grammy specialties. They were a combination of the usual cookie base ingredients plus oatmeal and butterscotch morsels.  I am still searching for the original recipe, and will let you know when I find it.  My Pinterest search led me to another nostalgic fun fact - Although Grammy liked to bake "from scratch" she was also a big fan of Bisquick.  We used to giggle together over the recipe titles on the back of the Bisquick box. "Impossible Peach Cobbler" - we wondered "what's so impossible about it?" I couldn't resist this Pinterest Board recipe that called for Bisquick with a suggestion to add butterscotch morsels.  I have renamed it "Impossible Chocolate Scotchie Chip Cookies."

Impossible Chocolate-Scotchie Chip Cookies

1 stick of butter, softened (1/2 Cup)
1 Cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (McCormick's does not have corn syrup!)
1 egg
2 3/4 Cups Bisquick Baking Mix
1 Cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli- yum)
1 Cup Butterscotch morsels (I thought about 1/2 cup but-sometimes more is better)


Preheat your oven to 375 and don't worry about greasing your cookie sheets. Grammy always put on her apron while she baked, so you if you have one put it on.  In a large bowl: mix butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg. Now add your Bisquick Mix, and chips.  Scoop rounded teaspoonfuls onto your cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cookies are done when they look a little golden.  Let sit on cookie sheets briefly transferring to wax paper for cooling.

The Pinterest recipe that inspired this recipe was created by Stephanie Parker from Birmingham Alabama. She is an author, blogger, and columnist who cooks "real food." Take some time to visit her blog and Pinterest Boards- you will be in good company.  Ms. Parker has over 4,000 followers and may be the next Pioneer Woman!

Happy Summer and happy baking

Mindfulness Monday: Honoring your child's spirit

Cousins.  Most of them share  DNA (nature).  Some of them are siblings and have a similiar upbringing (nurture).

Each of them has a unique spirit. 

In The Conscious Parent (2010) Dr. Shefali Tsabary encourages parents to address these issues:

How can I parent my children with an awareness of what they truly need from me, and become the parent they deserve to have?

How can I rise above my own fear of change and transform myself to meet the requirements of my child's spirit?

Am  I able to perceive my relationship with my children as a sacred relationship?



I am posting this as I travel to visit family and recharge on vacation.  Dr. Tsabary's book is a welcome companion as I continue  launching my young adult children into the next chapter of their life story.  The Conscious Parent reminds me that good parenting is a metamorphasis, we are changed by the children we are blessed to raise.  It is an exciting and challenging journey.

                                              I will honor my child's unique spirit.

More Family Traditions

When Sweetness and I married we realized that our outlook on traditions was very different.  I wanted MORE, MORE, MORE and he wanted, well . . .  less.  In the beginning this difference caused a lot of stress, like the year we had four Thanksgiving dinners, or the time we had a  blow out over whether a Christmas wreath on the front door was a "need" or a "want." Gratefully, over the course of  our 27 plus marriage we have learned how to meet in the middle when developing traditions for our family.  

We have always agreed on the tradition of one family trip a year. A compromised tradition of the family trip includes the cashing in of the coins. I should mention that one of us is a saver and one of us is me.   We keep a huge carboy in the master bedroom that everyone feeds with loose change throughout the year.  This "savings account" is hauled out to a local coin exchange.  It is pretty exciting to watch the money add up. It was kind of stressful, however. the year we tried to make it the ONLY spending money we would have for our trip. Regardless of the evolution of our traditions, memories are being made!

Check out Oklahoma Women Bloggers for the full post.

P.S. We will be cashing in this week- any guesses about the grand total?