A confession: I am not much of a baker. It seems you can either bake or cook, but usually not both. I don’t know why.

My daughter Maya is an amazing baker. One of the things I’ve really missed with her being away at college is baked goods – her oatmeal cookies in particular. After attempting a disastrously, painfully inedible batch, I asked Maya for her recipe.  It was originally published in “Simple and Delicious” and makes about 2 dozen delicious cookies.  Best of all – even a non-baker can make them!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup Craisins (Can roughly chop if you like – I didn’t)
1 cups chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and and vanilla. Beat for several minutes. In another bowl mix flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Gradually beat into creamed mixture. Add in the rest of the ingredients. The dough will be quite stiff and still fairly sticky.

Drop by generous tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet (12 per sheet.) Bake for about 12-13 minutes. Place cookies on a parchment sheet and let cool.