Saucer-Sized Oatmeal Cookies

The whole oatmeal cookie thing started last week when I made monster cookies for my son's last kindergarten snack of the year. I used Mean Chef's recipe (a long-standing favorite) and loaded them with chocolate chips, raisins and m&ms. (These are kindergarteners after all.) They turned out really well, as expected, but they made exactly 18, enough for the whole class and the teacher, but not enough to keep any at home. It is cruel to make cookies in front of your family and not let them have any. And my children and husband would not let me forget that. So the pressure was on.

So cookies were already in the forefront of my mind when I read my blogger friend Amy's post about her lovely oatmeal cookies. She used a recipe from Pam Anderson, a respected cookbook author and food magazine person. Pam Anderson has an interesting blog called Three Many Cooks

Amy did hers with chocolate chips, dried cherries and toasted pecans. And that sounded so good that I really had to give this recipe a try, especially with Mean Chef's recipe so fresh in my mind.

These really are saucer-sized, if you want. The cookies were huge on my first sheet, so I made them a little smaller for the rest. If you want them huge and literally saucer-sized, use a standard ice cream scoop and mound the dough above the scoop before releasing it on to the sheet. And put 3 on a tray (they spread.) For mine, I measured the dough level with the scoop for a palm-sized cookie. I made some without nuts for the kids and then I added nuts to the rest of the batch for those who know better ;)

Unique about this recipe, is that the butter is melted before adding the dry ingredients. It makes for a thinner but chewy, buttery, praline-like oatmeal cookie. Mean Chef's cookie is thicker and chewy with a hint of cinnamon. Both cookies are REALLY good. I really couldn't pick one over the other. But I think the thicker Mean Chef cookie makes for a better cookie to hold a lot of add-ins.

What I like about a big oatmeal cookie is that one really is enough. There's something satisfying to the eyes and hands to hold a big loaded cookie and have it all to yourself. And a giant cookie allows for a second glass of milk or will match up to your venti skim latte. So try one of these recipes out. You can make them and freeze them too. Then pull them out of your bag in the middle of a long car trip and people will think you are magic.