America’s favorite oatmeal cookie recipe is below.
The history of Quaker Oats is below. And here’s the history of oats from prehistory to the present.
RECIPE: QUAKER VANISHING OATMEAL COOKIES
Prep time is 20 minutes, and cook time is 8 minutes.
Ingredients For 4 Dozen Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups Quaker Oats (Old Fashioned or Quick Oats, uncooked)
1 cup raisins
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts
Raisins substitute/addition: 1 cup dried cherries, cranberries or diced mixed fruit
Raisins substitute/addition: 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; omit the cinnamon
Preparation
1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add the combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well. Add the oats and raisins; mix well.
2. DROP the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to a wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.
3. HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase the flour to 1-3/4 cups and bake as directed.
For Bar Cookies
1. PRESS the dough onto the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
2. CUT into bars. Store tightly covered. Yield: 24 bars.
TIPS FROM QUAKER
Use an empty Quaker Oats canister as the “gift box” for cookie gifting.
One hundred years ago, Quaker introduced the now-iconic cylinder package for Old Fashioned Quaker Oats. The cylindrical package was a first in the industry. While the packaging design has been updated, the round canister can still be found on store shelves today.
The Quaker Mill Company of Ravenna, Ohio, was founded in 1877 by Henry Parsons Crowell, who purchased the bankrupt Quaker Oat Mill Company there.
Canned foods were a hot new trend in 1915, and Crowell noticed the public’s growing appetite for colorful, conveniently sized packaging. He began to sell his oats in distinctive round cardboard cartons. At the time, many groceries, including cereal grains, were sold in bulk from barrels.
Today, The Quaker Oats Company sells more than 350 million pounds of oatmeal annually, and some 120 million canisters are produced at its Cedar Rapids plant. A food conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, it has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001.
Quaker also lays claim as the first to feature a recipe on packaging: Oatmeal Bread, in 1891. In 1908, the brand introduced the first cookie recipe on a package: Oat Cakes.
In 1922, the company introduced Quaker Quick Oats, one of America’s first convenience products. It can be swapped for Quaker Old Fashioned Oats in baking recipes.
In 1966, Quaker Instant Oatmeal pouches debuted to help people keep pace with a busy, on-the-go lifestyle. Cup packaging debuted in 2000, to portable eating even easier. Earlier this year, Quaker launched Quick 3-Minute Steel Cut Oats.
The History Of The Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
As previously noted, the first-ever oatmeal cookie recipe to appear on the company’s package was in 1908: Oat Cakes.
Those first oatmeal cookies were dry and hard with no sweetener—more like crackers than cookies.
The precursor of today’s Vanishing Oatmeal recipe, a sweet oatmeal cookie, appeared on the packages sometime between 1910 and 1917.
After the 1929 stock market crash, when Americans needed a sweet treat, Quaker’s Oat[s] Macaroons appeared, the first oatmeal drop cookie (so-called because spoonfuls of dough were dropped onto cookie sheets and baked—here are the different types of cookies). Like macaroons, they contained almond extract—no raisins (here’s the recipe).
The company has continued to keep up with the times, creating breakfast bars, no-bake bars, and different styles of oatmeal cookies to meet consumer preferences. Here are more historical notes, and a link to all Quaker recipes.
The Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe, above, remains a consumer favorite. As of 2015, it’s been on the Old Fashioned Oats canister for 20 years.
You can use quick oats in a pinch, but it will result in a texture difference. In my experience quick oats make for a kind of thicker, denser cookie. They aren't quite as melt in your mouth. And the oats themselves will kind of disappear into the cookie more.
If there isn't enough fat or liquid, the cookies can turn out dry. It's also important to measure the ingredients accurately and not pack the flour too tightly, as this can result in a dry texture. You could try adjusting the baking time, temperature, or the ratio of wet to dry ingredients in your recipe.
BAKING SODA: When baking soda is combined with an acid, like the cocoa powder, baking powder, and brown sugar in this recipe, it produces carbon dioxide, which helps the cookie dough rise and eventually spread. It also helps the cookies caramelize, raising the pH level in the dough for peak browning.
Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly.
If quick-cooking oats are used in a recipe in place of old-fashioned rolled oats, the texture will be different, but that will probably matter very little in most recipes. You can also make oat flour, or ground oats, from oats.
In addition to be heated for a warm breakfast bowl, rolled oats are commonly used in granola bars, cookies, muffins, and other baked goods. Instant oats can be used in place of rolled oats, although the cook time will be much less, and the final dish will not have as much texture.
Raisins: I love to soak the raisins in warm water before using. This step is optional, but it guarantees they are plump and soft. Blot dry before adding to cookie dough. (You can also use this cookie dough to make my white chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies.)
Many drop cookie recipes, including oatmeal cookies, specify baking until the edges are golden or light brown; often, the recipe also specifies that centers should appear set (not jiggly and raw).
Too much grease on a cookie sheet can cause cookies to spread. Spread a thin layer of vegetable shortening or lightly spray no-stick cooking spray onto cookie sheet. Or, place parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
If you don't have baking soda, you can use baking powder, at three times what the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda, you can use three teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder also contains a little bit of salt, so it's also a good idea to halve the salt the recipe calls for.
Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.
Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.
The key to keeping cookies fresh and soft is to seal them in an airtight container, like a resealable freezer bag. And here's a nifty little trick: add a piece of bread to the bag. You might think that the bread trick works because the cookies absorb moisture from the bread.
Simply lay the bread at the bottom of the container and pile your cookies on top of it, seal the lid, and wait a few hours. The cookies will soak up all the moisture from the bread and by the next morning, they will taste as good as the day they came out of the oven gooey.
Old-fashioned oats and quick-cooking oats are basically interchangeable, although they will slightly change your final dish. If you're substituting old-fashioned oats for quick-cooking oats, your final dish will be chewier, and it might taste a little oat-ier.
The difference in texture might help you decide which type of oat you should use in a recipe. Rolled oats hold their shape well and give things a nice chew. This makes them perfect for baked goods and cookies. Quick oats are better for blending into recipes.
Instant Oatmeal is cut too fine, and is not recommended for baking. Old-Fashioned Quaker Oats Made from 100% natural whole grain Quaker quality rolled oats, Old Fashioned Quaker Oats add extra fiber and a heartier texture because the oats are larger.
You can use quick cooking rolled oats in a baking recipe, but the texture will be a bit finer, which means if you're looking for something thicker or chewier, you're better off using regular rolled oats.
Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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