my oatmeal cookie is shaped like the moon

So this is what you would call an epic recipe between my mom and I, and I am sure a few of you are at least the slightest bit curious as to how the name of this recipe came to be. Let's just say that it all started with my weekly spelling word homework when I was in the 3rd grade. You remember those, right? Where you had to make sentences out of the words, write them three times in different colors to imprint them in your brain, etc.? Well, if you do, you know what I'm talking about. And if you don't...well, you missed out on a quality educational experience. Not really... :)

Anyway, one of my spelling words that week must've been "moon". And as any 9-year old would be, I was bored out of my mind and sick of spelling words coming out of my ears. So here I was, racking my brain for at least the slightest bit entertaining of a sentence that could keep me focused. Thankfully, my mom was baking oatmeal cookies at the time, and we all know that baking alone is enough to increase concentration levels tenfold. :) And then it came to me...the sentence that began the legacy:

My oatmeal cookie is shaped like the moon.

So ingenious, right? Haha...but after that one simple sentence, the name stuck, and to this day, my mom and I call these cookies "Oatmeal Cookies Shaped Like the Moon", despite their traditional circle shape. Perhaps I should try to mold these cookies into a moon-shape some day so they can finally live up to their name...that might be a fun project. :)

While there need be no special occasion to bake "Oatmeal Cookies Shaped Like the Moon", today's batch was made in preparation for our Californian family friends who will be staying with us for a couple of nights. They always joke that we treat them like they are staying in a B & B, and what better way to welcome someone into your home than with the cookie jar filled to the brim with delicious treats?

It is an unwritten rule to always add some sort of mix-in to these oatmeal cookies, be it raisins or chocolate chips. Today, I really couldn't decide, so I ended up splitting the batter in half and mixing raisins in one batch and chocolate chips in the other.

And oh wow, this cookie dough is good. Amazingly good. So good, that if you really really wanted to, you could probably eat it for dinner. And that is exactly what I did...whoops! Well, I wasn't intending on eating dough for dinner, but you know what happens when you're baking...one thing leads to another, and before you know it, you've eaten 2 or 3 cookie's worth of dough. A pro about dough dinners, though, is that it's very filling. It really must expand in your stomach or something because, I don't know about you, but after eating cookie dough, I really don't want to eat for the rest of the day... However, what a plus to the poor college student!!! A batch of dough is pretty cheap and filling...but not exactly nutritious, I guess. But hey, we've got raisins and oatmeal in this cookie! So that means it's practically a granola bar, right?

Now these cookies are bigger than your average cookie. A full 1/4 cup of dough is plopped onto the baking sheet, and a baked cookie with a 3-inch diameter flies out of the oven. Not to be exact or anything.... :) So basically, this cookie is big, it means business, and it's pretty much the most bad ass cookie you can bake. Sorry "Badass No-Bakes", but you've been replaced...

Mmmmmm. Let's just drool all over these, okay?

Oatmeal Cookies Shaped Like the Moon
Taken from Good Housekeeping, September 1990

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Into large bowl, measure all ingredients except oats. With mixer at low speed, beat ingredients until blended, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. With spoon, stir in oats and chocolate chips or raisins.

Shape level 1/4 cups dough into balls and place, about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake cookies 15 to 16 minutes until golden. Carefully remove to wire rack to cool.