Chewy and crunchy oatmeal cookies

These cookies have soft and tender middles and crispy edges, not unlike how I feel these days.

Greetings from the rainy, cold Pacific Northwest. Gosh, no, I mean New Jersey, where it’s been cold and rainy for what feels like weeks or, at least according to my one-inch-tall cucumber plants, a lifetime. So, damn the rock-hard nectarines on the counter that I was going to work into a recipe for a summery fruit buckle or the lush, creamy Eton mess layer cake I was concocting. They just didn’t seem right. In search of coziness and warmth, this week’s recipe is for a rather classic oatmeal cookie, made with a less classic method.

These old-fashioned oatmeal cookies have soft and tender middles and crispy edges. Which, I should add, is not too unlike how I feel these days.

My daughter graduated from college this past weekend. It was a wonderful weekend, full of emotions, most of which I’ve tucked into a lead-lined box so they can fester and I can sob at an inappropriate and embarrassing moment in the future.

At Mount Holyoke, the class of 1950 rides in the traditional Laurel Parade before the Class of 2025’s graduation.

When I graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1989, our commencement speaker was actress Glenn Close (a friend of my favorite history professor, Michael Burns). Close was, not surprisingly, compelling, and her message was positive and encouraging. She repeated one line that she learned for overcoming stage fright and that I still repeat to myself: “Just go out there and do it.”

At my daughter’s graduation from Mount Holyoke, the main speaker was Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey. The usual exclamation-pointed exhortations of commencement addresses -- “You got this!” “Don’t wait for permission! Make the world a better place!” “You will fall, but you will also rise!”-- were more subdued and blanketed with genuine concern.

After opening with niceties, the governor dove straight into the reality of what our children are facing when they leave college today. “You graduate in a time of political upheaval, in a time of deep uncertainty about the future.

“I want to talk about this moment in history because this is your moment. Yours to confront, yours to change… at this moment, starkly different visions of America are in conflict. A democracy defined by pluralism versus a system of hierarchy and domination. Constitutional rights, which are universal, versus the privileges of power. An economy of innovation and opportunity versus greed and inequality. A social vision that is rooted in freedom versus fear and hate. And a vision of higher education as the foundation of our leadership in the world, not a domestic enemy to be torn down.”

(At this moment I looked around at the very international audience, parents and grandparents who had sent their kids to university in the United States to give them an advantage, and I wondered how, going forward, many students from abroad will not opt to come or will be denied the chance to study in America.)

Healey continued: “I know which vision I stand for. I know you do, too. This is a moment that clarifies our values. It’s also a moment that challenges us to think about how we protect, defend, and advance those values. Now, this may not be the moment you would have chosen for yourself. It may feel as if you’re graduating in the worst timeline.

“But the crisis of this moment, the challenge of this moment, also offers a huge opportunity. It’s an opportunity to make choices that truly matter not only to yourselves but — you’ll find out — to the world. It’s the gift of a purposeful life, however you choose to build it. I don’t mean to suggest that you should own and bear the weight of the world on your shoulders as you leave campus today. But what I do want you to know is that in a time like this, simply how you live makes a statement. Who you are makes a difference. You can be caring and compassionate to those who right now are afraid or hungry or sad, sick or struggling in your communities … you can take the time to get to know people, to look others in the eye, to see the world through a lens that is not your own. You have the opportunity in communities to be engaged, to just show up. And in doing so, that makes a profound difference.”

(You can read the entire speech here)

My daughter and her fellow graduates head out into a complicated and unsure world of our doing. Theirs is a future in which fewer champagne corks and more Lexapro will be popped. That said, maybe it’s the soothing nature of warm oatmeal cookies or the dynamic, dedicated women I saw graduate this weekend, but I’m a little more hopeful knowing this bunch is going to go out there and do it.

Notes on the making of cookies:

• You are under no obligation to add orange zest, raisins or chocolate chips to these cookies. You could add dried cherries or cranberries. Or walnuts or pecans. Maybe peanut butter or butterscotch chips. A half cup of shredded desiccated coconut would be delicious. Leave them plain if that’s your thing.

• The dough needs to rest at least 30 minutes before baking to let the ingredients more uniformly hydrate. If you have the willpower to just bake a few now and then let the dough rest for 8 to 12 hours, you will be rewarded with a much-improved cookie.

• The addition of an extra egg yolk keeps the middle of these cookies soft.

Crispy and Soft, aka Contrarian Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 22 3-inch cookies

What You’ll Need:

• 1 1/4 cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 cups (134 grams) old-fashioned (not instant) oats

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 3/4 cup (170 grams) butter, melted

• 1/2 cup (107 grams) brown sugar

• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 large egg yolk

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest

• 1/2 cup (85 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

• 1/2 cup (75 grams) raisins

What You’ll Do:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda.

2. Melt the butter in a large, heatproof bowl in the microwave or with a double boiler. Whisk in the brown and white sugars until the mixture is uniform and the butter no longer looks separated. Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until creamy looking. Stir in the flour mixture until just blended. Add the orange zest, raisins, and chocolate chips (or whatever you’ve chosen to add). Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

3. When ready to bake, heat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop large (2”) balls of dough onto the baking sheet. Leave 2 1/2” between each cookie to allow for spread. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the center no longer looks damp. Rearrange the baking sheets back to front and top to bottom once during baking to ensure the cookies bake evenly. Watch carefully toward the end to make sure the edges do not burn. If your oven runs hot, you might want to bake these at 350°F/180°C.

4. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container for 3 days.

5. (Don’t want to bake all the cookies at once: Balls of raw cookie dough can be wrapped and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. Add a few minutes to the baking time.)

How do the words of advice to graduates from Governor Healey compare to what you heard at your graduation?

Marissa Rothkopf Bates writes about food for the New York Times, Newsweek (RIP) and Publishers’ Weekly among others. Her newest book, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,” is available for pre-sale wherever fine books are sold. Find her on Substack here.

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