MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06 Title: Better Than Best Oatmeal Cookies Categories: Cookies Yield: 1 Batch 1 c Butter 1/2 c White sugar 1 c Brown sugar 1 Egg 1 ts Vanilla 1 1/2 c Whole wheat pastry flour 1 ts Soda 1/4 ts Salt 1/4 ts Nutmeg 1/2 ts Cinnamon 2 tb Ground flaxseed (optional) - (adds omega 3 for - vegetarians) 1/4 ts Ginger (optional) 1/4 ts Mace (optional) 1 ds Cloves (optional) 1 1/2 c Rolled oats 3/4 c Walnuts and/or pecans; -finely chopped MMMMM--------------------------TOPPING------------------------------- 1/3 c White sugar 1 ts Cinnamon; or more These are not your ordinary oatmeal cookies. For one thing, they don't have those nasty raisins in them--those squished-bug-like raisins that exist only to deceive the nearsighted into believing they're about to bite into a chocolate chip cookie. For another, they are more crispy than chewy, with a delicate consistency similar to sugar cookies. As far as I know, the recipe has been in my mother's recipe box since before I was born, labeled BEST Oatmeal Cookies. She was right. Preheat oven to 350°F. If you want to make this vegan, use coconut oil and a vegan flax or chia egg in place of the egg. Cream together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Don't use shortening--it makes all the difference in the world! And for even more amazing flavor, brown the butter first. Sift together flour, soda, salt, and optional ground flaxseed, then add to the creamed mix. Stir in oats and nuts. Prepare a bowl of cinnamon & sugar. Keep adding cinnamon until you get the color you want--darker if you want a heavier hit of cinnamon, but if you've added the spices above you don't need too much. Roll dough into balls the size of small walnuts, then roll in the cinnamon/sugar mix. Use parchment to line the cookie sheets if you have it--handy stuff! If you don't have it, grease the cookie sheet. Place on cookie sheet and flatten gently with your thumb or the bottom of a glass. They do spread some so don't crowd. Bake at 350°F for 7-9 minutes; start with 7 to test your oven. Then hide a batch for your snacking pleasure before you give your family a taste. In my oven when I first posted this recipe 8 minutes brought them to perfection; I now have a new oven in a different house and I bake them for 7 minutes. If you put two cookie sheets in the oven at once, then halfway through rotate the pans top/bottom and front/back for more even heat distribution. After you take the pans out, let them sit for 1-2 minutes before removing from the pan. This allows them to set up; if you try to take them off the pan too soon they'll be floppy and tear apart. Recipe by Barb Chamberlain Recipe FROM: MMMMM