#3 Scotch Oat Crunchies (1943)

Filling are Sour Cherry Lemon Jam by Earth & Vine
Provisions on the left, and my friend Gitte's
Tangerine Marmalade, right.

Rolled cookies require two extra steps that I try to avoid - refrigeration and rolling.  If I wanted to roll out dough, I'd make a pie.  But I promised to make all these darned cookies, or pretty near all.  Out came the rolling pin.

With 2 1/2 cups of oatmeal, you'd imagine a hearty good-for-you cookie that would be representative of the 1940's, when this recipe appeared in Gourmet Magazine. You'd be half right. The cup of butter nixes the healthy thing, and gives these a high-fat pastry texture. This recipe also calls for pastry flour, a low-gluten flour and second-lowest in protein content of the four most common flours (cake, pastry, all purpose, and bread). Pastry flour contributes to a light texture that breaks apart easily.

I was never good at reading all the instructions before beginning a task.  I had just added the baking powder and salt when I saw that the recipe notes say to use cake flour.  I scooped off the top cup of pastry flour (the part with the baking powder and salt), poured the rest back, and added enough cake flour to make the required 2 1/2 cups. Cake flour is even lighter - lower in protein and gluten - than pastry flour.

Decades ago, my maid of honor Shan gave me this rolling pin,
made by Hutterite craftsmen of eastern Washington.
I have never used it on my husband.

This combo might make a light cookie, but it also made a very sticky dough that broke apart and made a mess of my rolling pin. Use lots of flour to roll them out. Once the round cookie cutter had done its job, I needed a spatula to get them off the counter.

Visually, the star of this cookie is not the cookie itself, but the suggested jams I was to apply between two cookie layers to make these into sandwiches - just before serving.  Clearly a high-maintenance dessert since it requires refrigeration, rolling and last-minute preparations, the fillings give them the eye appeal they crave.

Half the cookie, half the calories - go easy on the lemon curd.

Well, this is the last cookie I should be eating if I want to lose weight. I have to eat TWO cookies plus jam with every portion. I ate one actual sandwich cookie, then a few open-faced samples with different fillings, which now became toppings. I had more fun once I started making new shapes - with their own appeal and smaller portions. I got out my pasta rolling tool and made square cookies.  Now, a plate of these would make fine tea cakes, and guests could add their own topping.


The recipe calls for a sour cherry jam, but I prefer my friend Gitte's Tangerine Marmelade. I'm also partial to Lemon Curd. Too bad all these fillings tend to ooze from the centers. All the more reason to make smaller rounds, say 1-inch, single-bite-size cookies, or make toppings optional.

This recipe can be found here without updated notes and there with the notes.

Sources: Joyofbaking.com; http://tinyurl.com/34sr3ak