Poor Man's Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ cup hot water
• ½ cup shortening, melted and cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, sugars, flour and salt. Combine the soda and water; stir into the oats mixture along with the shortening and vanilla.
2. Roll into walnut-size balls. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven; allow to stand 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

Yield: about 3 1/2 dozen. A "Golden Oldie" from Georgia Perrine, Bremerton, Washington. In the 1930s, producers of a radio program called Jake and Lena invited listeners to write in for this recipe; it was renamed Poor Man's Cookies because it contained no eggs, milk or nuts. Despite the name, the cookies are rich in taste.

Original card

The recipe above was transcribed from this scan of Vera’s original card.

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