Oatmeal and raisin cookies

"All I really need to know, I learned in kindergarten..." - Robert Fulghum

Do you know this guy?  Robert Fulghum is a story teller.  An American non fiction writer who's writings of common things and life in general are as funny and interesting, as they are inspiring.  He is one of my favourite book authors.  And this -   All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten... is one of my fave from his books.  It has, since first publication sold more than 7 million as of its 15th anniversary edition in 2003.  I had my first copy of this book in 1998.  And I never stop going back to it.  Again and again and again.  Why?  Well because of the simplicity of the message.  And here's an excerpt from the book via Amazon:

"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."

- Robert Fulghm  

Print this Recipe

This recipe is adapted from Margaret Fulton's cookbook Baking - The Ultimate Sweet and Savoury Baking Collection.  

To make these chewy and healthy cookies:

250g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed, brown sugar

55g caster sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

60ml milk

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

300g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup raisins or sultanas

 Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and bicarb soda in a bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together untli light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla, milk and eggs and beat until mixed through.

Add in the dry ingredients and continue to beat until just combined.

Take off bowl from your stand mixer, and using a wooden spoon, stir in the rolled oats and raisins.  You will have a lumpy slightly wet dough.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator to chill until firm - several hours or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 180*C.  Grease and line trays or cookie sheets with baking paper.

Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, scoop out dough and form into balls.

Arrange on baking tray/s and press down slightly with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.  Do not overbake.  At this point, the cookies should be slightly soft in the centre.

Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cook

These cookies are great and healthy - they are chewy which is the kind that we like at home.  They kept for 2 weeks in an airtight container in the kitchen.  Two or three went into lunch boxes, some nibbled while waiting for dinner, some taken with milk (and coffee) and they're just all-around simple cookies.  No fancy schmancy pants here.

I think sometimes we need to be reminded that life can be simple.  That its okay to slow down.  That its okay to be late.  And that mess and dishes in the kitchen can wait.  That we should count our blessings (and be grateful for what we have). That prayers are answered.  And that cookies and milk, do make you feel good. 

And here's another quote from American politician Barbara Jordan - " Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down for a nap."

Enough said. 

Cookies and milk please.