Saigon Cinnamon Oatmeal Scotchies

Last night I had a sweet tooth and rummaged through the cabinets in search of a baking project.  I found lots of possibilities, but decided to make oatmeal cookies in the end.  I went to my trusty Old Mill Cookbook written by my Grandmother and found her oatmeal cookie recipe.  After looking over the instructions I decided to change things a little bit as I often do with her recipes, and I came up with Saigon Cinnamon Oatmeal Scotchies.  Of course by the end of the night I had plain oatmeal cookies, cranberry oatmeal cookies, and butterscotch oatmeal cookies.  They were all delicious and definitely finding their place in the Cairo Household recipe book!!

 Mammy's Oatmeal Cookies
Preheat your oven to 400 Degrees
    1 cup of margarine
    2 cups of sugar (i used one cup packed brown and 1 cup granulated sugar)
    4 eggs
    4 cups of flour sifted
    1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
    2 teaspoons of baking powder
    1 cup of buttermilk (mine was 9 weeks expired so I used reg. milk)
    1 teaspoon of baking soda (dissolved in milk)
    4 cups of plain oats
    2 teaspoons of cinnamon (I used 4 teaspoons of saigon cinnamon)
    1 teaspoon of cloves
    1 tablespoon of vanilla
    *optional I added in butterscotch morsels and dried cranberries, use your imagination and personalize your cookies to your tastes!

First Cream your margarine and sugar in a large bowl.  You may need to soften the margarine if it is not room temperature.  Slowly add in your eggs until you get a smooth consistency.  Sift in your flour, salt, and baking powder alternating with the milk (including the dissolved baking soda).  Continue to mix until you have all of the ingredients mixed well in a nice smooth batter.



                                          Next stir in your spices and flavoring.  Begin
by adding in the oats a few at a time.  You will have to start mixing by hand at this point, the batter becomes very thick and harder to manage with a mixer.  After you have added all of your oats and made sure they are all covered with batter, you will be ready to begin adding in your extras, and spooning out cookies.

            I divided out my dough and added in
            my butterscotch morsels an cranberries
to make sure they were covered with cookie batter.  Then I carefully placed a few on tope of the cookies to make sure folks would be able to distinguish between the cookie variations.  

Bake your cookies at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes depending on thickness and size.  You want the edges to brown and there to be no gooeyness in the middle of the cookies.  Place on a baking rack and allow to cool, then enjoy!!