Oatmeal Cookies

What do you do when you have a craving for pumpkin oatmeal cookies at 9pm? You make them, of course! However, although you thought you bought a million cans of pumpkin purée, it turns out that you are fresh out of that rather important ingredient. So now what do you do? Because you are incredibly stubborn and one-minded about food cravings, you make regular oatmeal cookies and hope for the best. And these were pretty close to the best. Full of cinnamon, chewy and a little crispy, these little cookies are delicious! I opted not to put any nuts or raisins (we all know how I feel about those yucky little things) in the cookies, so they truly are a pure and simple oatmeal cookie. And that's what I love about them!

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or do 3/4 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup bread flour so the cookies don't flatten out as much)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used 2 1/2 teaspoons because I love cinnamon!)

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup chopped walnuts, optional

*I put a few chocolate chips on one batch of cookies and didn't like the outcome. Chocolate and cinnamon weren't a good match here.

Preheat the oven to 325º. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Gradually add this to the butter mixture. Mix in the oats and nuts (if using) until just blended. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased or Silpat-lined cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Mmm, breakfast!