Mom's Dish Pan Cookies

I did something Sunday I haven't done in years - baked cookies. (I don't know what came over me!)

You might remember how Mom always had some kind of cookies or cake or bars on hand to share when neighbors or family stopped in.

One of her all time favourites was "Dish Pan Cookies". I have her recipe written in her hand on a little piece of paper. She notes that these measurements are for 1/2 recipe and that it is from Sampling Iowa's Treasures cook book, page 29.

Here's the recipe: A: 1 Cup Sugar; 1 Cup Brown Sugar; 1 Cup Oil; 2 Eggs; 1 tsp Vanilla.
B: 2 Cups Flour; 1 tsp Baking Soda; 1/2 tsp salt.
C: 3/4 Cups Quick Oatmeal; 2 Cups Cereal.
Optional: 3/4's Cup Coconut; 1/2 Cup Raisins; 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips; 1/2 Cup Pecans or other Nuts.
I used Cinnamon Flavored Corn Flakes as my cereal and the Coconut as my optional.

Directions: Cream together A. Sift together B and add to A and then to C. Add any or all of the Optional ingredients.
The dough gets stiff and hard to stir. Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes at 325 degrees.
Makes four dozen chewy cookies.

I don't remember which birthday Mom was celebrating in this picture. Somewhere in her 70's, I'd guess.
Remember how proud she was of her 1949 Maytag gas stove? She always kept it shining. I'm so glad one of her grandsons wanted to keep her stove and uses it everyday. It would be 61 years old and still working.

It may be that I have an electric stove, but I had to turn my temperature up to 350 degrees and bake the cookies a few minutes longer.

I don't know if these cookies are called "Dish Pan" because you need a container the size of a dish pan if you make a full batch or because you can put so many different optionals in them - but I guess that would be "everything but the kitchen sink" not "dish pan".




The Quick Quaker Oats ingredient reminded me of how Mom would make a pan of oatmeal for breakfast, eat a small bowl and then feed the rest a spoon at a time to her cats at the back door.

The Sampling Iowa's Treasures cookbook by Ann Haugland is one of trivia and recipes featuring Iowa Bed and Breakfasts and Tea Rooms. I remember buying it for her at a Home and Garden show in Des Moines. However I did not keep it after she died, so I don't know which Bed & Breakfast or Tea Room the recipe came from.

My cookies turned out really yummy, though not quite as good as Mom's were. Maybe it was the love she baked into hers.