My grandmother Dorothy was an incredible baker. She made magical sweets like popcorn cake (chocked full of M&M’s) and classic goods like molasses cookies and cookie bars and more-and-more-and cookies.
I miss her. Since her death, I’ve tried to honor her by spending time focusing on my memories, listening to my father tell details about her life, and maybe (once in a good long while) taking out a stack of her recipes, deciphering her handwriting, and inhabiting the world of baking.
Here is her recipe for “Aggression Cookies.” Heavily underlined, by golly. Something about the kneading required to create these cookies is good for getting out stress and tension. She didn’t need to go into detail. And her recipe for “Aggression Cookies” is not the first I’ve seen. Ladies all over the place back then had these recipes in their arsenal.
In parentheses at the top of the recipe card, Dorothy wrote, “Very good.”
Disclaimer: She didn’t pull any punches when it came to richness. There are some serious sugars and saturated fats in this recipe. However, unhealthy food made from five ingredients probably beats most store-bought sweets, with their menagerie of additives and colors. It all gets a little hard to qualify these days, but more-real should still beat totally-unrecognizable, am I right?
Ingredients
Three (3) cups brown sugar
Three (3) cups butter (soften it if you’re not that aggravated. If you need to displace some aggression, take it right from the fridge.)
Six (6) cups oatmeal/oats
One (1) tablespoon baking soda
Three (3) cups flour
Directions
1. Knead and mix all ingredients together (Dorothy said: Very thoroughly!)
2. Make balls size of walnut and place on cookie sheet. (Direct quote.)
3. Press each cookie with a small glass with a buttered bottom that has been dipped in sugar. The glass bottom does not need to be buttered often but must be dipped in sugar before pressing each cookie.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.
Eat and enjoy!