On Saturday, our friends Josh and Emily came over for an impromptu dinner. When our friends come over for dinner, we make the main course and dessert and they bring a salad or appetizers. Since this dinner wasn’t planned, after I invited them, I realized that we had no dessert. First, I thought to make brownies because we have cocoa powder and I never made brownies from scratch. Then I thought chocolate cookies. Then, while flipping through my just-arrived-that-day Martha Stewart Living magazine, I saw a recipe for oatmeal cookies. I gave Andy the option and he picked oatmeal cookies. Smack me surprised, because I was (beyond) sure that he’d pick brownies.

Right before Josh and Emily came the baby started being super fussy. The kind of fussy where if I put her down, she’ll scream bloody murder. So I put on my sling, put her in, and she promptly calmed down.

Anyways, long story short, Andy became the designated cookie-maker that night. I gave him the recipe and didn’t step into the kitchen until dinnertime. Can I just say, these cookies were incredible! I still can’t believe how much better everything tastes when it’s home-made and not store-bought. It’s really worth the time, mess, and effort to make as much as you can at home. Especially something like this.

As a sidenote, every single recipe I saw for Oatmeal Cookies required 2 sticks of butter. This was the only recipe I saw that only needed 1. I wonder if it’s because the recipe yielded less (cookies) than other recipes.

Anytime Oatmeal Cookies
(Recipe from Martha Stewart Living)
Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Salt
• 1 unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (Andy hates raisins, so he omitted this)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla, then flour mixture. Mix in oats, then raisins.
2. Using a 1 1/4-inch ice cream scoop (or 1 tablespoon), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each scoop about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 14 minutes. Let cookies cool on a wire rack.