Favourite Oatmeal Cookies

          Since I was a child, this has been my favourite oatmeal cookie recipe.  When I asked my mom where she got the recipe, she told me she had gotten it from my aunt, (her brother’s wife.) 

          The original recipe calls for “fat”.  In the US, most people would use Crisco.  When I moved to the UK, I had to figure out what “Crisco” was—as “Crisco” was the brand name.  www.crisco.com   In 1997 I was in Scotland, with access to the internet—but that was mostly for e-mail.  Therefore looking on Google wasn’t really an option.  (Had Google been introduced in 1997?!)  Anyway, I knew that “Crisco” was called shortening in the US, and that it was an all-vegetable product.  After standing in front of the dairy case in a local grocery, I concluded that American “Shortening” was what the British call vegetable fat.  (Vegetables have fat??!!)  Okay…the British equivalent is “Trex”.  Trex

          All the above to say, I have used shortening/vegetable fat, margarine, dairy spread and butter to make these cookies.  If you want the best taste, use butter!

          The original recipe lists only raisins as “additional” ingredient.  However, Mom used to substitute chocolate chips for raisins.  As I started making them, I added chocolate chips AND raisins.  I suppose you could add chocolate covered raisins as a shortcut. 

          The recipe does call for chopped nuts, which can be left out if they are not available or someone has allergies.

          These cookies freeze really well, so you can make a double batch and allow yourself to keep them on hand more easily.