I used old-fashioned oats in my cookies because that's probably what Great-Grandmother Tenery used: quick cooking oats were not developed until the 1920s.
Navarro County, Texas, 1880
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I added this- it was not in the original recipe)
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup raisins
Here are the exact instructions, as written: "Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, one at a time and beat thoroughly. Sift dry ingredients three times and add to creamed mixture with oatmeal, pecans, and raisins. Drop on greased tins, and bake in moderate oven for 15 minutes".
I added: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Although the directions did not specify, I stirred the vanilla in right after the eggs. Bake on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet for 13 to 14 minutes or until just starting to brown (the longer they bake, the crispier they get). I dropped dough by rounded tablespoon-fulls. This made about 42 large (3.5"), delicious cookies.
Recipe from: Seconds of A Pinch of This and a Handful of That, 1830-1900 by The Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
These cookies may have been taken to some of these fun parties!
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