This is definitely one of my go – to recipes. Just the aroma of these baking sweeps me back to my Mom’s 1960s kitchen. The wind is howling around the corners of the house and snow is falling in thick, fat flakes. I’ve just come in from sledding and my legs tingle with the sudden change in temperature. That scent of fresh, warm oatmeal cookies saunters down the stairs reminding me that not only is it Christmastime but that my stomach is gnawingly hungry. It’s only a moment before I am sitting at the chrome and laminate kitchen table “test tasting” a cookie and scalding my tongue on hot chocolate.
In the summer she’d make Quaker’s famous oatmeal cookie recipe once in awhile, only she’d make them bigger and put two together with a big scoop of Butter Pecan ice cream in the middle. Oh my gosh, that was good.
That’s what good food does, you know. It takes you back to a special moment, it lets you relieve it again and again, and it allows you to share that moment as many times as you like.
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You’ve probably made these a hundred times yourself, as did your mom, and probably your grandma. This recipe first went on the back of Quaker’s oatmeal boxes in 1955 — 60 years ago. I am not a big proponent of shortening — and if you’ve read the blog very long you know that. I have to say, though, when making this cookies I use shortening. They are just not the same without it. Substitute butter or part butter if you like.
I don’t know if Quaker Famous Oatmeal Cookie recipe is famous because it was on their box or because my mom made it for every potluck, school party, and Christmas cookie tray she every created. I just know that it is awesome good — and worthy of being famous another 60 years.
Quaker Famous Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shortening
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups uncooked Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
- 1 cup raisins optional
- 1 cup coconut optional
- 1 cup pecans or walnuts optional
Instructions
- Beat shortening, both sugars, egg, water, and vanilla together until creamy.
- Stir in dry ingredients except the oats. Mix well.
- Stir in oats and optional ingredients if you are using them
- Drop by teaspoon on a lightly greased cookie sheet or silpat
- Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Do NOT over bake.
- Let cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool completely.
If you liked Quaker Famous Oatmeal Cookies You Might Also Like…
Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Averie Cooks
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Amy’s Healthy Baking
Tom says
This is the right recipe. Growing up in the ’60s my mother taught me to bake by helping me make oatmeal cookies. Over the ages, I lost track of the original recipe, but knew when I saw a recipe that was an impostor. The clue for me, that this is the real, true original Quaker Oat recipe, is the shortening and water. My mother instructed me to measure the shortening by first putting the 1/4 cup water in a measuring cup, and then push the shortening into the water until the water was up to the 1 cup mark. I never forgot that tip, or the proportions. When I saw that this recipe had 1/4 cup water, and 3/4 cup shortening, I knew I had found the original.
Marye Audet says
🙂 It’s the one I learned on, too. They’ve changed it since.
Shash says
It’s hard to find this recipe anymore — thank you for publishing it! Even the one called Famous Oatmeal Cookies on the Quaker website omits the egg (seriously, Man In the Black Hat??), so you have to be careful who you listen to … and then you have to wade through the ones where they put in the cinnamon and the nutmeg (blasphemy!). I just want the real old-fashioned cookies I used to have when I was growing up. Thank you, thank you. thank you!
Marye Audet says
I am so glad you’ve found it, Shash! I agree! I know this one is right because it’s the label from an OLD Quaker Oats canister with the recipe on it! Enjoy! There’s nothing like these.