Vintage Eats Recipe: 1961 Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

This is a special blog post for me.

I’ve not blogged for several months. The reason is that my husband of 44 years, John, died from prostate cancer in October.

We fought the battle with that awful disease for 17 months until his poor body succumbed peacefully.

I took this photo of him last year as he helped me pack cookies for the cancer center where he took the treatments. The Christian man that he was, he always thanked the medical staff for his care. Everyone was fabulous.

Making cookies was one way for me to show my thanks. Much of the time I couldn’t speak on those long days because my throat was full of tears at seeing him in a wheelchair and undergoing chemo treatments. He had always been a strong man who loved working on construction projects. Now, he couldn’t walk around without tiring.

It was a challenging time and the saddest event of my life.

During that same time, we moved to a one-story home so he didn’t have to deal with stairs. We were only in the new home six weeks when he had to be admitted to the hospital for lengthy periods at regular intervals.

Between taking care of him and unpacking, I had no time to cook/bake. Generous friends brought in meals which was so appreciated.

If I can ever repay people with delicious food, I will do so, knowing what a blessing it is to have it during times of trauma.

He’s been gone more than a month and I am only now starting to cook. Part of the challenge is getting used to a gas oven. People have raved to me about the wonderful qualities of gas stoves (“Food will heat quicker and more evenly”— frankly, I never had a problem with this while using my electric oven.)

The smoke alarm in our new home has only gone off once. I was cooking chicken on the stove and I guess it got too hot. That ugly, awful loud alarm went off and I started to yell for John to ask him where the alarm was and what I should do (I never had that problem with my electric stove).

Then I stopped, realizing he wasn’t around to help me.

I turned off the stove and sat down. I didn’t want to cook anymore. Eventually the alarm quit, but it was an exhausting experience and took all of the desire out of me to cook.

The foggy state of my brain, due to grief, doesn’t help. That, combined with the enormous amount of paperwork all of which requires his birthday and social security number that I have trouble remembering, even though I’ve said it/written it a million times, makes me sad all over again.

All of this has just made it too difficult to put a recipe together. There are always too many steps, even when it was a cookie recipe I’ve made repeatedly.

Now I’m gradually putting together simple meals, not feeling bad if I open a can of soup instead of making it from scratch.

Someday, I’ll get out my stock pan and try some homemade dishes again. I’m not rushing it.

This vintage recipe is from a cookbook I’ve used before — Milwaukee Gas Light Company from 1961. You can find Yellow Cake Trifle and Sour Cream Cookies from this same cookbook.

Today, I’m exulting in these chocolate chip cookies I made for the first time in six months. I took it slow to ensure I didn’t forget any ingredients. And no setting off the awful smoke alarm!

These cookies turned out well and are fairly nutritious if you count the oatmeal and peanut butter.

Look for my notes at the end of the directions for my variations from the original recipe.

I would call this a “quick and easy” recipe, but that’s if you know where your measuring spoons and cups are. I had to search for mine, having unpacked them in August and stored somewhere and never used since. They were in a kitchen drawer rarely used.

It was decidedly comforting to pull out my old mixer, assemble the beaters, and hear the familiar buzzing as ingredients went in. I even got excited at spraying cookie sheets and applying parchment paper. Hopefully, something magical would happen in the oven like it had in the past and it did!

These cookies are rounded, due to the small ice cream scoop I use for uniformity. I may get a smaller scoop sometime, but for now, this one works well. Not one mound burnt!

With this success behind me, I’ll try to blog regularly. And in case you’re wondering, I don’t plan to use this space as a journal of my journey through widowhood (I hate that word and all of its derivatives). But I may share some thoughts about it as it seems appropriate.

Let me know what you think. If you’re journeying through widowhood and/ or baking, what has helped you put a recipe or meal together during a stressful time?

If this blog accomplishes anything, especially this time of the year when gift-giving is on everyone’s mind, I hope it will be to encourage you to share your culinary talents with people to bring cheer to their lives.

Now on to the recipe.

**

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2.5 c. flour

1.5 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 c. brown sugar

½ c. butter

2/3 c. peanut butter

2 eggs

½ c. milk

3 c. oats

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking soda & salt.

Add brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, eggs & milk.

Beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).

Add oats.

Bake on parchment-covered baking sheets in preheated 350-degree oven about 10 minutes.

Cool on wire racks.

Yield: 6 dozen

*Notes:

The original recipe in the Milwaukee Gas Light Company Cookbook (1961) included the word ‘Frosted’ in the title. The dough was to be rolled 1/8” thick on a lightly floured counter and cookies cut out with a 2” round cutter.

Then chocolate chips were to be melted and drizzled over the top after baking, topped with ¼ c. chopped peanuts.

I eliminated those steps, instead, mixing in a 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips and omitting the peanuts.

I’m sure the original method of preparation would make delicious cookies, but I didn’t want to deal with the potential mess of the chocolate and peanuts falling off.

You choose.

**

Vintage Find of the Week

I’m a sucker for vintage canning jars.

I don’t care what size, brand or color – I collect them all.

You see here Ball and Kerr, some with glass lids, others with metal lids. Small nicks don’t bother me as I only use them for décor such as sticking in seasonal flowers or colorful knick-knacks.

One brand of canning jars someone mentioned to me was Atlas. I’ve never seen them and am curious to know more about them.

What type of canning jars do you use, if any? If you have any Atlas canning jars, either as part of a collection or to use for canning, would you Let me know what is distinctive about them and why you have them in your inventory?

Happy Baking!

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