Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies from The Joy of Cooking

In 1977 The Joy of Cooking was a gift to me and was my only guide and instruction for cooking for probably the next 10 years.

The cookbook covers everything in the kitchen from A to Z.  (Hey, like my blog, from A to Z!) Proper table setting to skinning a squirrel is all between those covers.

While writing this blog post, my interest became piqued about the book, so I looked into the history and found it’s been in continuous print since 1936!  I own the most popular edition published in 1975.

It is said Julia Child learned to cook reading The Joy of Cooking.  For me, cooking never became a joy and I avoided the kitchen like the plague, except to heat up a Lean Cuisine (I would never eat that now!).

But.

I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect, plain oatmeal cookie recipe.  No nuts, chips, raisins.  Just the smell and taste of sugar and oats.

Finding a plain recipe isn’t all that easy and I didn’t want to modify one.  Then I found one online and my cookies tasted okay, but they never formed into cookies and stayed in a ball shape.

And then.  I remembered The Joy of Cooking and the oatmeal cookies I made from there once upon a time.  I took out the battered and stained book and guess what?  The bookmark was on the oatmeal cookie recipe page.

So out came all the ingredients, the Kitchen-aid and baking pans. The only modification I made was to use King Arthur gluten-free all-purpose flour.  For you know who. 

I used our countertop convection oven, and I’m not doing that again.  The temperature is just too iffy on it.  Baked goods are either overdone or I take them out a bit early because I’m so nervous.

The batch I baked on a small stone turned out the best.

I’ll be baking them again because magically, they’re all gone.

Here’s the recipe found on page 708.  There are several recipes cited online, but none matched my edition, so here it is.  I hope I don’t make any typos that screw you up!

Quick oatmeal of Wheat Flake Cookies

Preheat oven to 350⁰.

Cream:

½ cup butter

Add and cream well:

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

Combine and beat in until smooth:

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

Sift together and add to the above ingredients:

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon double-acting baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

When beaten smooth, add:

1 cup uncooked quick rolled oats or wheat flakes

For a different flavor or texture, try adding one of the following:

(3/4 cup chocolate chips)

(1 teaspon grated orange rind)

(1/2 cup raisins)

(1 can flaked coconut)

Beat the mixture well.  Drop cookies 2 inches apart on a well-greased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until light brown.

Wrap Up

DF Evon teases me that for someone who claims to dislike the kitchen, I spend a lot of time in there.  And it’s true. 

Maybe it’s the new season of my life.  Maybe it’s just realizing that controlling ingredients in our food is important.  Or maybe it’s just having the smell of baked goods is really, really nice.

Oh, and by the way, I personally took one for the team and ate all the rejects.

If you have time this weekend, maybe set aside a half hour or so and whip up a batch of cookies.  The prep and clean up isn’t all that bad.  And it’s worth it.  Sort of.

Blessings for a wonderful weekend.