It’s been a while since I participated in the Vintage Recipe Swap but boy am I glad I did this month! Christianna at Burwell General Store led us down the cookie path with a new cookbook, The Second Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places. I’m excited about the new challenges to come because I love hearing different stories behind recipes. It makes them that much more enticing to recreate. Don’t you agree?
The chosen recipe this month was Toll House Cookies, which originated in Massachusetts hundreds of years ago. Now that is what I call a tradition! I started thinking of my own family traditions which is when I came up with the idea to make Grandma’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. Since I was in the spirit of “swapping”, I thought I’d add some sweetened coconut to the cookie for a more complex taste. I thought for sure the coconut flavor would shine though but alas, it did not. Not as strong as I would have liked it to be. Still, the chocolatey oat good-ness stood out in all it’s glory! I like these cookies crispier rather than soft so I baked them an extra 2 minutes than what was necessary.
I got the Grandma-fix I was looking for by making these cookies. I miss her cooking and baking terribly because everything she made was so amazing! I like to think I inherited her skills in the kitchen which always makes me feel better. Whenever I make something of hers, my mind floods with great memories. This recipe took me back to many Christmas’ ago. I remember her baking these year after year until she got too old and had to have my mom or myself make them for her. She would take her seat at the head of the kitchen table and tell us what to dump in the bowl. Then I would break my arm mixing these babies up and wonder how she did it so many times and didn’t have biceps of steel.
She was an amazing woman – to say the least. 
Grandma’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Coconut!)
Ingredients:
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups Quaker rolled oats
- 10 oz mini Hershey’s kisses
- 1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
Directions:
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugars in a stand mixer. Add in eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients; beat well. Be sure to scrape down your bowl after each new addition.
- Stir in oats, chocolate chips and coconut by hand until combined. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, turning sheet halfway through baking. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Tutti Mangia!
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Jamie I love the Grandma element of your swap post! I too had that in mine and a few others too. I guess the holidays and cookies evoke that. Always love a twist too. Would never think to try coconut but now I must. I found a similar recipe (no coconut) in my Grandmother’s recipe box that I posted last year. It had the austere name ‘Good Cookies’ and was an oatmeal and chocolate chip mix. I’m sure yours are ‘Great Cookies’! Toni
We must be related and not know it. My oatmeal chocolate chip recipe is from my Grandma too…and I love it with some coconut! All those memories come flooding back just seeing your cookies and reading your story. Thanks for that. And yum!!
Those are some amazing cookies from an amazing grandma, like you said!
This was really the perfect swap recipe to get us all thinking about the cookie bakers in our lives who had such a strong influence on our culinary futures!
Coconut makes everything better! Yum!
The best recipes are the ones that connect us with family and people we love – that way, the food we eat tastes so much better, seasoned with memories and smiles.
Your reminiscing about your grandmother brought a bitter-sweet image of my mom this summer, sitting at the kitchen table, unable to cook, but perfectly capable of directing the show:)
Here is to loving women in our lives who taught us so much!
Aw, I miss my grandmother a lot when I bake too, and channeled a recipe from my mom for this swap. Great idea adding coconut!!
They look wonderful! I love vintage recipes. There is something comforting in knowing that food can be passed from one generation to the next. I’m new to your blog, but I will be back. I liked what I found and enjoyed the time I spent here. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
You can’t ever go wrong with Grandma’s cookies – yours look very good
I don’t know how all grandmothers are good cooks. As in, is it a prerequisite before you become a grandmother? Or do they undergo some training for grandmothers where they learn all these cooking/baking skills? Love how this blog post makes me crave for food made by my grandmother and also all the memories that come along with it!
P.S: I love that you added coconut in it! Sounds great!
Oooh, nothing’s better than the combination of oatmeal and coconut! And I love your Scrabble placemats!
These look super good. Baked to perfection. I love oatmeal and coconut together. I want those placemats!