Move over December, January has taken your spot as the official month of cookie baking! Since I was inundated with final projects and deadlines galore, I missed the cookie bake-off that December traditionally is. So, I am making up for lost time this month before my final semester begins and I am swamped with thesis work. Plus, I am heading into the screen print lab and there needs to be treats involved so oatmeal cookies it is. This recipe was inspired by Martha, but I believe there to be better recipes out there. Any suggestions you may have for the best oatmeal cookie recipe you’ve ever tasted, feel free to send them my way 
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raisins
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter with both sugars, and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, milk, and eggs, and mix well. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Remove bowl from the electric mixer, and stir in oats and raisins. Place dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of dough, and shape into a ball; place on one of the prepared sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing balls 3 inches apart. Press down to flatten into 2-inch diameters.
Transfer to the oven, and bake until golden but still soft in center, 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the pans between oven shelves halfway through baking. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week
The Committee of Efficiency and Morale is my favorite pen name thus far for the book series we have been working on. It has a certain militancy about it which I like the irony of because the aesthetics we have been using are so soft and beautiful. Everyday that we have been in the print lab, I have found myself bringing in a treat. The moral is high, especially when treats abound! The latest cookie, Gingersnap Jammers is what I call them, were inspired from a recipe by Martha. I knew I wanted a crunchy cookie, something buttery with a little hint of spice, and I wanted to use jam, so here is what I made:
Gingersnap Jammers
8 tablespoons tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup raspberry jam with seeds
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, shortening, and 1 cup sugar on medium speed. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.
Add maple syrup to butter mixture; beat to combine. Beat in egg until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low; slowly add the reserved flour mixture, a little at a time, until well blended.
Place remaining cup sugar in a bowl. Measure 2 teaspoons dough; roll into a ball. Roll dough in sugar; transfer to sheet. Repeat, spacing balls 3 inches apart. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Form and bake the remaining dough.
Spread about 2 teaspoons jam over half of the cookies; place a second cookie on top of jam-covered ones, making sandwiches. Serve.
Sometimes, a girl just needs to bake. Especially when a kitchen has not been available for over two weeks! I saw this recipe for Orange Butter Cookies in the New York Times a few weeks ago and decided I’d give them a try, giving myself a break from playing typographer for the book I am working on. They are delicious little buttery treats with a citrus twist. Enjoy!
ORANGE BUTTER COOKIES
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups cake flour or more all-purpose flour (cake flour gives a finer texture)
1/2 teaspoon baking sodA
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
2 packed teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1 large egg plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
FOR THE ICING:
1 orange
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 to 4 tablespoons whole milk
2 drops almond or vanilla extract
Pinch fine salt.
1. Position two oven racks in top and bottom third of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk flours, baking soda and salt together. In a mixer, cream together the sugar, butter and orange zest at medium speed until light and smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of bowl frequently. Add egg and mix. Add one egg yolk and mix. Add remaining egg yolk and mix. Stir in dry ingredients just until combined.
3. Scoop tablespoons of dough onto parchment, leaving more than 1 inch between cookies. Press each one down lightly with 2 fingers to flatten to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Leave any ridges and valleys on top of cookie intact, but smooth the edges.
4. Bake about 15 minutes, rotating cookie sheets halfway through. Cookies should be pale but baked all the way through. Cool on sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack and cool before storing in airtight containers up to 1 week.
5. When ready to serve, make icing: Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Peel orange, being careful to remove only outer orange zest, and cut into thin strips. Blanch in boiling water 1 minute; drain. Sift confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Whisk in 2 tablespoons milk. Whisk in more milk if needed to make mixture thin enough to spread. Add extract, salt and zest, and whisk to combine.
6. Place cookies on a rack and drizzle icing over each one (make sure there is some orange zest in each spoonful). Icing will settle into cookie crevices; let harden.
Yield: About 4 dozen cookies.
Note: Instead of icing, cookies can be sprinkled with coarse crystal sugar before baking.
