Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

Tags

Everyday Life, In the Kitchen, Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

It’s hard to think about anything heavy to eat after Thanksgiving.

After a big holiday meal like yesterday, I prefer a simple hamburger from one of our nearby burger places. But I’d be willing to eat other food as well…as long as it’s not turkey and someone else is doing the cooking.

Soon, I’ll head back into my kitchen. Later this afternoon, perhaps, since these “just right” cookies my friend Ann makes have been on my mind. Moist and a just little tart with dried cherries, these cookies taste as good as they smell. Part of their simplicity is that the ingredients are so basic that they are likely stored in your kitchen cupboard. And as they bake and cool on my kitchen counter, they fill the house with an aroma of simple everyday goodness.

Turkey and cranberries, as good as they are, are foods I enjoy but once a year. It’s food like hamburgers and oatmeal cookies that remind me that the best of life is not found in holiday feasts or in those special days where we receive some nice certificate to hang on our wall or hide in our safe deposit boxes; yet, isn’t it ironic that we remember the times when certificates change hands — like for a marriage or the birth of a child or a college graduation — and forget that the best of real life is found sandwiched in between?

These everyday cookies remind me of all that is good about everyday life. Bake and serve them for those certificate days of celebration or on one of the many, many days in-between. From my life to yours.

Makes approximately 5 dozen

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, well-beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup dried cherries

Sift together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. and set aside. Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix the beaten egg in thoroughly, then stir in the vanilla. Add the dry mixture. Then mix in the oatmeal and then the cherries. Give it a final mixing.

Refrigerate, covered for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pam a cookie sheet. Place walnut-size pieces of dough on the prepared sheet, allowing space for cookies to spread. Bake for 10 minutes, or until set.