Grandma's Combination Cookies

I do hope all had a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!!

I know that we sure did.

One of our favorite things to do on Sunday nights

is to make something yummy.

These cookies are right at the top of the list.

This was my mom's recipe

and when I was growing up

It was not uncommon to come home

from school and find a huge batch

of these babies

waiting with ice cold milk.

Pure HEAVEN!!

They are called a combination cookie

because you can put any combination of

goodies inside the cookie to to make

all sorts of great cookies.

The ones pictured are plain milk chocolate chip.

My mom used to put coconut, chocolate chips

and some kind of nut in them as a rule.

Be creative.

Use M&Ms, raisins, nuts, dried cranberries,

chocolate chips, coconut, or anything your heart desires.

These are by far the best cookie I've ever had but, then again, I'm pretty biased on that count.

Fall is a great time to start baking for the holidays and these cookies

freeze like a dream. 

Doubling or even tripling the batch can get you a long way in putting together those goodie plates for neighbors and friends and you can do them well in advance!

If you try them, I would love to hear what you put in them and how you like them. 

You will need:
*1 cup of brown sugar
*1 cup of white sugar
*1 cup of shortening (use the good stuff, not a store brand, and can be buttered flavored if you wish)
*2 eggs
*3 tablespoons hot water
*2-1/2 cups of flour, sifted
*2 teaspoons baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon of salt
*1-2/3 cups oatmeal (this was my mom's sneaky way of getting oatmeal into us)
*1 teaspoon vanilla (use the pure vanilla, not the immitation vanilla)
*1-1/2 cups of add-ins (basically anything you want to total about 1-1/2 cups)

Cream shortening and sugars together.  Add eggs one at a time mixing each carefully.  Sift flour, soda and salt together.  Add to sugar mixture.  Mix well.  Add hot water and vanilla.  Mix.  Add oatmeal and add-ins.  Mix well.  Use a cookie scoop to place balls of dough on a cookie sheet (aprox 1-1/2 inch balls).  We always put parchment paper on our cookie sheets, especially if we are using one of the battle scarred ones. :)  Bake at 350 degrees for about 7-8 minutes.  Now, 7 minutes (at least in our oven) produces a soft, chewy cookie.  You will need to experiement a bit with your own oven to determine what kind of cookie you want and how long to bake them. This will make about 3-4 dozen cookies depending on the size you make them. 

Please let me all know what you put in them and how you like them.  I would LOVE to hear about them.

*  Ammended the item "soda" to "baking soda" for clarity - 11/01/2010. 
Thanks whoever pointed that out to me!
Sew Happy... er...Bake Happy,

Suzie
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