Summer comes along with blisteringly hot sunshine days.
The heat is humid and heavy, and the occasional gust of wind blows air that is hot and thick against your face, just like the heat which gushes out of the oven when you first open it, to pull out the vanilla pound cake or cherry chocolate muffins you were baking.
Because such humidity and denseness in the air is not unfamiliar to me, and is commonplace where I lived and spent most of my life in Singapore, it’s not surprising that my thoughts have been unconsciously returning back home. And by home, I mean my South East Asian hometown Singapore, which is 30 hours away by flight from where I currently live, in Buenos Aires.
A wave of nostalgia occasionally sweeps over me.
Thoughts of familiarity and my island nation also lead me down the path of nostalgia to my family, and in particular my mum, for whom it must have been the hardest when I announced my decision to move across the world, and then later really did pack my bags and settled in Argentina, South America.
Of course, next month I will be there with my mum and family in the flesh, a yearly ritual that I now hold immensely dear. A journey back home, a place where friends from my youth have known me forever, and with whom I have discussed dreams and visions for my future. And I am bursting with excitement, with pure anxiety and joy.
But still, even though I am so near to being home, there’s nothing which comes close to actually being back in the welcoming arms and company of my beloved family and friends.
Nothing which comes quite close, except for the smell of freshly baking oatmeal cookies wafting in the kitchen, and of course, eating them.
These classic oatmeal cookies were what my mum baked us for so many years in our later childhood, when we started to appreciate baked goods other than just the orange zest pound cake my siblings and I indulged in and used to fight over.
My mum’s classic oatmeal cookiesMy mum’s oven specialty, these cookies always remind me of her, no matter which corner of the world I eat them in.
Oatmeal cookies always reminds me of my mumThe color of golden-brown honey, every bite of these crunchy cookies spills with the buttery taste of sweet, crispy oatmeal.
Oatmeal Cookies + Milk = PerfectWhen eaten warm, just after they have slightly cooled from the heat of the oven, they almost dissolve in your mouth, melting in a deliciously sweet mess.
Oatmeal cookies make good companyI first made these cookies when I started cooking a year ago, and even though my baking skills hadn’t fully developed yet, they still turned out surprisingly close to the way my mum makes them.
These are the kind of fool-proof cookies anyone can bake, to bring to a pot-luck, to invite friends with when they drop by for tea, and the sort of cookies that almost everyone has a fondness for.
Oatmeal Cookie & Milk tea party
CLASSIC OATMEAL COOKIES (Makes 2 dozen cookies)
Adapted from my mum’s recipe
Linking up with Walking on Sunshine!
Ingredients:
1) 225g of butter
2) 1 cup of sugar
3) 1 cup of self-raising flour
4) 2 cups of quick cooking oats
5) Optional: 1/4 teaspoon of chopped pecans (or any other type of nut or dried fruit you fancy)
Steps:
1) Melt butter and mix sugar with it in a large mixing bowl till sugar has dissolved.
2) Sift the flour and add it to the butter and sugar mix, then add the oats and chopped nuts
3) Stir well until it achieves a homogenous texture
4) Using a teaspoon, scoop up 1 teaspoon of batter, and then form a small ball by rolling it between your palms
5) Place the balls of batter on a greased baking tray, leaving about 3 cm of space between each ball until the tray is full
6) Bake in oven at around 170 deg celcius (medium heat for gas oven) for around 15 to 20 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start turning golden brown
7) Once finished baking, use a spatula to move the cookies to a plate to cool
Mix sugar and melted better together:
Until sugar has dissolved:
Sift the flour and add it to the butter and sugar mix:
Stir well until it achieves a homogenous texture:
Add in oats and chopped nuts:
Stir well to get the cookie dough:
Scoop 1 teaspoon of batter and form a smalls ball and place on a greased baking tray:
Fresh out of the oven!
Would you like some?
Come on…I know you want them.
Come get it..!
One cup is equal to how many grams?
Hi Sandy, depending on the ingredient, one cup varies in terms of grams.
According to this very useful conversions article (http://allrecipes.com/howto/cup-to-gram-conversions/):
1 cup of sugar = 200g
1 cup of flour = 130g
1 cup of oats = 85g
Hope this helps!
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
Thanks for dropping by! Have a good week ahead!
Amazing cookies! I love oatmeal, one of my favorite. Thank you for joining Foodie Friends Friday this week! I am sharing the recipe on my Walking on Sunshine Facebook Page tomorrow. Come on over! And don’t forget to VOTE on Sunday!
Hey Lois! thanks for dropping by and sharing the recipe on your page in advance! Will drop by and vote on Sunday – (is the voting on your page or your facebook?)
Do you FedEx? 🙂
Hahah! can do too! 😉
Hi Felicia! Thank you again for the link you sent me( perfect solution)and wow for this new recipe.
Before you leave I’ll certainly contact you to wish you : feliz viaje!
Anna!
I’m glad the condensed milk substitute helped! did u manage to try it in the end?
These oatmeal cookies are one of my absolute favorites … it’s a pity you are lactose intolerant (because butter is involved. and I’m not sure if using margarine would change the taste alot.)
Gracias por tus saludos! Buen finde!
Agh. I still can’t handle you talking about the heat when it’s so freaking cold here in NJ! Send me some warm thoughts pleaseee. 😀 I’m so happy that you will be visiting your family soon: mine are still in the US but Florida is pretty far and I know how much it means to both them and me when we get to visit. I hope you have a lovely time and bring some of these cookies to munch on on the flight !
Jess!
I can imagine how cold it is there in NJ! a friend of mine is in NY and she told me it was -9 deg cel yest (not sure how much that is in farenheit but it sure sounds freezing cold). Last night on the news I saw the firemen trying to put out a fire in NY and the water being sprayed to put out the fire froze immediately from the cold! Amazing! it looked like some haunted house castle!
I guess I shouldn’t be complaining about the heat since hot weather is still pretty much bearable compared to sub-zero temperature levels!
Am really really excited about being home! 1 week left to go!!!
sending lots of WARMTH and LOVE!! and once more congrats on the social media marketing internship!!
xoxo!!
So happy you get to visit home soon! I’m actually visiting South America-Peru- for the 1st time- in April. I’m ready for some south of the equator warmth!!!
Hey Ruthanne!!
How have you been??
You’re gonna love South America! (i’ve never been to Peru, but still i’m sure you’ll have a great time!)
If you ever do make a trip to Buenos Aires, let me know!
And you’re right, I cant wait to be back home in Singapore!! Am counting down the days!! 🙂
xoxo