Oatmeal Molasses Cookies

Is it a guy thing to not ask for something directly and just hint at it? My dad does it. Dylan does it. Here's the conversation that lead to me baking these. 

We were in the baking section of the supermarket.

Dylan: Are oatmeal raisin cookies hard to make?

Me: No, why?

Dylan: They are my favorite cookie. 

...silence...

Dylan: Do we have everything to make them?

Me: We just need raisins.

...silence...

Me: Do you want me to make oatmeal raisin cookies?

Dylan: If you want to. (while holding raisins)

Me: Put the raisins in the basket.

And so, I made oatmeal raisin cookies. They are not my favorite cookie. I don't hate them and I'll eat them if they are free. I found this recipe in the 1951 edition of Cooking for Two revised by Sally Larkin. I have a ton of molasses, don't know why, that needs to be used. I didn't know if Dylan liked the taste of molasses but we will see.

Lots of sugar!

It doesn't call for creaming the shortening which is interesting. Everything just goes in together!

Everything except for the oatmeal...

...and raisins. This is thick dough. Mix thoroughly to make sure the raisins don't stick together.

These are drop cookies but I really wanted to shape them. 

These baked up perfectly in 12 minutes. I was concerned since it calls for a lower temp than I am used to. My kitchen smells amazing! This is why I don't allow scented candles in my kitchen. It covers the smell of deliciousness.

These were so easy to put together and bake! They taste heavily of molasses so if you don't like that you will not like these. I enjoyed them, as much as I can enjoy oatmeal raisin cookies. They have a nice amount of raisins. Not too much. Not too little. It also was not too oatmeal-ly. It did not taste like a dense, bland, breakfast bar. Yeah! Dylan loved them. 

The title of the book was correct. I had a couple and he ate the rest so...yep. Cooking for Two.

My Rating: Not bad for a cookie.

Dylan's Rating: "These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I've ever had. Can we make them again? Can you teach me how to make them?"

Tomato Soup Cake

Sometimes you just need to grab something weird and go with it. This oddity comes from the 1960 Better Cooking and Baking pamphlet put out by Robertshaw-Fulton Company.

There isn't a lot of tomato soup in this recipe so I am not exactly certain of its purpose. Other than to scare people...which is a perfectly good reason.

 Looks normal, except for the soup. It really stands out in the group. I am guessing this is going to taste like a spice cake of some sort.

 The batter turned out rather thin and very sticky before adding the raisins and walnuts.

 I love a batter that has more nuts (and other stuff) than actual batter!

 I'm not a fan of layer cakes but I am following the recipe this time. I didn't have 8 inch cake pans so I had to settle for 9 inch. It shouldn't be a problem.

 My oven tends to be a bit wonky with the temperature. I went for the longer time, as usual, and the look great! And smell great...like autumn.

 Just following the recommended icing.

I was going for a 'rustic' icing look. Turned out great!

Despite the less-than-perfect icing job, this was a delicious cake! The cake turned out a little dry but I will take responsibility for that since I went straight to the longer baking time. Dumb oven. This was a surprisingly good and tasted just like a spice cake, as predicted. I still don't know the point of the soup. It didn't add any flavor. The icing was light and just a bit crisp. I just needed a little more to cover the entire cake. Oh well. All in all a good recipe!

My Rating: Delicious but dry. Need to try baking it again to make sure it wasn't me.

Friends and Family Rating: "Interesting." "Surprisingly good!"

Pineapple Raisin Drops

Sometimes you just have to grab and try the strange. This gem came from the Christmas Cookies booklet put out by the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Co. I've already made several of the recipes and they have turned out great. Expectations are high!

The crushed pineapple is something different. And I had to buy more raisins. I'm not even a fan of raisins!

 Everything looks normal, except for the pineapple...

 Easy recipe. Came together quickly and easily!

 The pineapple pieces have already disappeared in the batter. I am guessing that they will not add any flavor.

 They baked up so pretty!

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. As expected, the crushed pineapples did not add any flavor but did add a ton of moisture to the batch. All in all these were great! I am not a fan of raisin cookies but I would gladly make these again.

My Rating: Surprisingly delicious!

Friends and Family Rating: "Yum!" "You did the impossible. You made raisin cookies that I actually like."

Frosted Oatmeal Cookies

I received this wonderful gift after the holidays, a cookbook that belonged to my great grandmother! It does not have a date in it.

 It is filled with delicious recipes including some I had never heard of before. I was going to wait until the holidays to make some but I got so many request for oatmeal cookies (so many!) that I thought I would go ahead and try one of these.

Oatmeal cookies are not my favorite but this one has icing so it might be okay.

Interestingly this recipe calls for the raisins to to be cooked and chopped with some of the 'raisen water' set aside. Mixing everything together!

Using milk to keep the cookie dough from sticking while flattening the cookies out. I never used milk before but it worked really well.

The finish!

These were great cookies! I actually really liked them and I am not a fan of oatmeal. Although it was mess to clean up, I liked the raisins chopped instead of whole. All in all this cookie has a less oatmeal feeling to it. It was more cookie and less like eating a whole bowl of oatmeal. And there was icing!

My rating: Keeper!

Friends and Family: "These are the best!" "The pecan was different but good."