Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe and I have a history. Sometime last summer, I pulled it out of my Taste of Home collection as I was intrigued by it's original title "Poor Man's Cookies." I found out by reading the author's notes that the reason for this name is due to the lack of eggs, milk, and nuts. Today this was the precise reason I chose this recipe--I was completely out of eggs and in need of using Stan, the KitchenAid Mixer. The first time I made this recipe, however, was a complete disaster. Though they tasted good (when does butter and sugar not taste good, right?), but the batter was completely runny and not at all in the state needed to "roll into walnut-sized balls." Hmm. I went ahead and baked them because I have a thing about doing it the recipe's way at least one time before tweaking it. Fail. This time I was prepared. The batter was a bit thicker to begin with but still not stiff enough to roll. I ended up increasing the flour amount from 1 cup to 1 3/4 cups until I achieved a desired consistency. They turned out beautifully. And oh, so quick and easy!

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 3/4-2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup hot water (microwave for 30 seconds)

1/2 cup margarine, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, combine oats, both sugars, flour and salt. Combine soda and water; stir into oats mixture along with the margarine and vanilla. Roll into walnut sized balls. Place on greased cooking sheets. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven; allow to stand 2 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool.

Yields: 3-3 1/2 dozen