My cousin’s son got married in October and my gift to the bride and groom was a recipe book I created of my late grandmother’s recipes (very Martha of me!). I thought this was a great gift, but given the fact that I have not yet received a thank you note, 7 weeks later, I’m wondering if they didn’t think so. It took me at least 10 hours to assemble, type, organize and edit the book and then I took it to Kinko’s to have it bound, so as gifts go, a lot of time and thought went into it!

Before my grandmother passed away, I had many of her recipes and used them often. However, one of the things she left to me was her own personal recipe notebooks, in which her recipes are written out longhand and notes are made as to where they came from. I’ve mentioned before that she was quite a cook, but it wasn’t until I assembled the typed recipe book of 63 PAGES that it struck me how deeply she affected my cooking skills and tastes.

Lately I have been craving oatmeal cookies, so I decided to make her recipe (which, according to her notes, came from her mother). As often happens when I’m cooking, I did some tweaking and ended up with a modern twist on her classic. The cookies were fabulous – crunchy, sweet, satisfying and filling.

Ruth Thompson’s Heirloom Oatmeal Cookies, Updated

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

½ tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg

¼ tsp vanilla

¾ cup  rolled oats

¼ cup finely chopped pecans

1/2 cup good quality chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients, oats, chocolate chips, and pecans. Form into balls and dip tops in white sugar. Bake for 15-18 minutes until the tops are slightly crackly and the bottoms begin to brown.

Do you have a favorite heirloom recipe? I’d love to hear about it. Have you ever made a family recipe book?

My cousin’s son got married in October and my gift to the bride and groom was a recipe book I created of my late grandmother’s recipes (very Martha of me!). I thought this was a great gift, but given the fact that I have not yet received a thank you note, 7 weeks later, I’m … Read more →