Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

Cookies. I would probably never make them if I didn’t have sugar-lovers in the house. I’m just not a big fan of desserts and sweet stuff. I mean, I like cookies fine, but I never crave them, and I don’t miss them if I don’t have them. When I want a snack, I’m usually craving popcorn or chips, not cake or candy.

The rest of my family, however, thinks “snack” equals “sweet treat”, so I make sweet treats. What the hell; it’s cheaper than buying them, and healthier in most cases, too. Certainly tastier.

These cookies are adapted from Quaker’s Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe (which had more butter in it in the version I used from the lid of the oatmeal carton). The kid doesn’t like raisins, so I replaced the raisins with chopped pecans. I also halved the recipe, because we really don’t need four dozen cookies around here, and I wanted to be able to beat the butter and sugar by hand, since I still can’t find my mixer’s paddle attachment.

They turned out SO well that even I ate two of them. And then two more for breakfast, with a glass of milk. Yum.

Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

1/4 pound (one stick, 115g) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional
1 1/2 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup chopped raw pecans

Heat oven to 350F. Prepare two cookie sheets by covering with parchment paper or silicone mat (optional). By hand or using electric mixer, beat butter and sugars together in a medium bowl until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to sugar mixture and mix well. Stir in oats and nuts and mix well again. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheets, a dozen per baking sheet (if using an uncovered cookie sheet, don’t grease it). Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until they’re as brown as you want them. Cool slightly and then move to a rack to finish cooling. Makes 2 dozen.