Everyday Oatmeal Cookies

I've switched from always having a loaf of banana bread around to always having oatmeal cookies around. They bake more quickly, have whole grains (kind of), and besides, I use all my bananas in smoothies these days.

This recipe is really flexible, you can substitute in whatever dried fruit, nuts, and spices you have on hand. My favorite combo is cranberries, walnuts and coconut, and my second is cherries, apricots, and prunes. The only version that we couldn't finish was white chocolate chip, raisin and ginger, I don't know what I was thinking, but they were still good enough to be polished off in the break room at work in less than a day.

These are great with tea or soy milk, and make really good ice cream sandwiches with vanilla ice cream too.

Everyday Oatmeal Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

1 stick butter, room temperature

3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use all white flour)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (you can add whatever other spices you like too)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant, they come out gummy)

1 1/2 cups dried fruit (I like 3/4 cup coconut, 3/4 cup craisins)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease 2 baking sheets. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar, then beat in egg and vanilla: these are your wet ingredients. Sift together flour, salt, nutmeg and baking soda: these are the dry ingredients.

In 2 batches, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Do not overmix. With a large spatula, gently mix in oats, fruits and whatever other add-ins you're using.

Drop tablespoon sized hunks onto your baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between. If you want flatter, crisper cookies, smoosh hunks into thinner rounds with a fork.

Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown on top. They will still be soft to the touch, and may seem underdone, if you like chewy cookies, take them out anyway and when they cool they will be perfect.