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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Cookies

Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

By Natalie SpackPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
First Place in Trick or Treats Challenge
14

It’s that time of year when the air gets a little cooler, the days become shorter, and suddenly magic swirls in the air, the feeling that anything can happen. Oversized sweaters and warm coffee in hand become my fashion statements and every year, around this same time, a text is sent to my sister text thread.

“What’s our oatmeal cookie recipe again?”

And with that, the fall baking bug bites as we sisters inspire each other to baking-filled cozy nights. The funny thing is, we never remember the exact oatmeal cookie recipe. It’s constantly changing, a reflection of who we have become over the past year and how we have grown.

The recipe began years ago in St. Louis, close to the time our dad had passed away. My oldest sister, Allie (who I lived with at the time), wanted to make some comforting cookies. She found a healthy alternative to regular oatmeal cookies, made with no added sugar or gluten. It was like comfort and coziness wrapped into a single bite. The smell of dates and cinnamon roasting in the oven could alone satisfy my fall sweet tooth. I would walk in the kitchen door, weary after a long day of social interactions that had become exhausting because of my grief (harder than I had realized at the time), and would be greeted by the smell of fresh, fluffy, oatmeal cookies. It was like a sense of home was slowly returning to our house after my dad’s absence.

My family on Allie’s high school graduation day.

The recipe was so good, it found it’s way to New York City where my sister, Chelsea, an actress, inhabited the top floor of an Upper West Side apartment building overlooking Central Park. She became obsessed with the cookies and made them at least once a week. I can only imagine the poor pedestrians below, rushing home on chilly October and November nights, smelling the cookies wafting through the apartment above, and wishing they were partaking of them. Chelsea liked to add extra bananas because she’s all about the chewiness and soft texture. She made the cookies extra big, influenced by the famous large New York cookies (they really are extra big in NYC). Even her waistline conscious, middle-aged roommates (a Broadway actress and a producer) approved. They were guilt-free and delicious—what a rare combo!

Chelsea living the New York Artist life.

Not long after the cookies made their way to New York City did they find their way into the home of our other sister Carol, the mother of three beautiful girls (with a forth on the way). The love for the cookies had now spread to an extension of our family, and my heart, the nieces. These heavenly oatmeal cookies were the perfect after school snack, post-soccer game treat, breakfast, or anything to satisfy the little girls’ insatiable hunger. Carol would sometimes add extra almond flour and less oats, in an effort to make them more paleo/keto friendly and with that, they took on their own twist for her growing family. As an active mom, she didn’t have a lot of time to bake, but these quick and easy cookies fit perfectly into her busy schedule.

The sisters cheering on our oldest niece, Emerson, at her soccer game.

Personally, I never follow a recipe, so my version was constantly changing. My favorite variation came one October evening when I added pumpkin purée and pumpkin spice. The purée created an extra moisture to the cookies that made them even more delectable. But if I wasn’t careful, I would add too much and they would become a crumbly (though still delicious) mess.

A time when I really messed up the recipe. 😂

A successful cookie batch I made (with coconut).

My favorite variation of the recipe came during the first few months of Covid-19, when everything in life felt so uncertain. Society was rapidly changing and everything in life that had previously felt so stable was falling apart. Maybe that is why baking became so comforting; it was a formula that could be relied on. Our family was changing, too. Allie had recently gotten married, Carol had found out she was pregnant again and Chelsea had temporarily moved back to St. Louis to quarantine with our family. One Friday night, we brought out the cookie recipe and decided to experiment and add blueberries to the dough instead of raisins. Suddenly, the cookies took on a new life and were once again comforting us in a hard and confusing season. The baking brought messes and laughter, but most importantly, brought us together: the four sisters and the four nieces.

Pre-Covid, shopping for ingredients together! (The fourth niece came after this photo was taken).

Allie and I teaching our niece Emerson how to bake!

Recently, I moved to California with Chelsea. One of our first weekends together, in our Los Angeles apartment, we made the cookies. This time we added pumpkin purée and substituted Lily’s chocolate chips for raisins, and Swerve sweetener for the dates. We needed something a little lighter, since we were now in sunny California where the fall days brought warmth and sunshine (unlike rainy, chilly St. Louis autumns). This batch was the best yet (we say that everytime) and brought Chelsea and me a sense of family and a feeling of home.

Just today, before I sat down to write this, I received a text from Allie:

“What can I do for the oatmeal cookies if I don’t have a banana?”

I quickly responded with some ideas and now I eagerly wait to see (and eventually taste) how the cookies once again transform. The cookies, like us, are constantly changing.

The sisters on Halloween circa 1999❤️🎃

Here is the recipe it in it’s latest autumn version. I hope you take it, use what you want and throw away what you don’t, and allow the recipe to evolve to match your season of life. ❤️

INGREDIENTS:

🎃10 dates

🎃1 cup oats

🎃1/2 cup almonds or almond flour

🎃1/2 cup raisins (or chocolate chips or blueberries)

🎃 1 tsp baking soda

🎃1/2 banana

🎃1 tbsp pumpkin purée

🎃Pumpkin Pie Spice (to taste)

🎃Cinnamon (to taste)

🎃A dash of sea-salt

🎃1 tsp vanilla

🎃1/3 cup of coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a food processor, blend the almonds and vanilla until it becomes like flour.

Add the pitted dates until they blend into the flour and it becomes like a big ball of dough.

Next, add in the oats, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon.

Now, blend in the banana and coconut oil (you might have to melt the coconut oil beforehand).

Finally, add in the raisins or whatever you chose instead!

Bake for 6-8 minutes until the cookies rise and become golden brown.

Enjoy the cookies with every season of life!

humanity
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About the Creator

Natalie Spack

I always have a notebook around so I can write down my thoughts! Anything from scripts, short stories, novels, songs, to poems! I also love comedy and make my own funny sketches on youtube (www.youtube.com/nataliespack)

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