Oatmeal Cookies

The humble oatmeal cookie....a bit of a Plain Jane cookie but I do love it. I like to sneak in some peanut butter and chocolate chips on occasion when I want to fancy it up.

I test drove some new cookie sheets and they made a huge difference in how the cookies turned out. Shiny air bake pans are awesome for cookies.

I also gave the Smart Balance butter blend sticks a whirl. Brave of me I know. I didn't hate them...so that is good news. ;) The last no trans fat stick margarine I tried, I hated so very much. The cookies spread more than I was expecting though. The 1/4 cup water in the recipe contributed to that, so I've omitted that for the future. I ended up with thin, crispy oatmeal cookies. Not bad. The flavor was very nice. I won't mind using the Smart Balance sticks again when I need to.

I whipped up a second batch with the usual tub margarine and ended up with less spread. The cookie turned out thicker with a moist, chewy center and crispy edges. Nom! I was happier with the second batch since they had the texture I was looking for. (The picture above is from the second batch of cookies.)


Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup tub margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats (grind one cup of the oats into a fine meal)

Beat together margarine, brown sugar, and sugar until creamy. Add in egg and vanilla. Mix in flour, salt, soda, and the one cup ground oats. Stir in the remaining oats. Drop onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 15 to 18 minutes at 350.


Another picture of the cookies....
A picture of the first batch of cookies with the Smart Balance. Tasty, but thin. They didn't brown as readily either.