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Oatmeal Cookies

Makes two dozen. You'll need: Large mixing bowl, Sifter, Baking sheets, Wire rack. Adapted for home kitchens by Halite from the U.S. War Department's Army Recipes (TM 10-412, 1946): scaled down from 100 servings, 1946 ingredients swapped for ones sold today, and the method rewritten. The recipe as printed is the Original version in this recipe's history.

24 servingsBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 122g (1 cup) Flour, sifted
  • 4.3g (1 tsp) Baking powder
  • 2.6g (½ tsp) Salt
  • 1.3g (½ tsp) Cinnamon
  • 0.41g (⅛ tsp) Nutmeg
  • Cloves, ground, a pinch
  • 122g (½ cup) Vegetable shortening, or butter or lard
  • 122g (⅔ cup) Sugar
  • 50g (1) Eggs
  • 68g (¾ cup) Oats, rolled
  • 82g (9 tbsp) Raisins, seedless
  • 128ml (½ cup) Milk

Instructions

  1. 1

    Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together.

    • 122g (1 cup) Flour, sifted
    • 4.3g (1 tsp) Baking powder
    • 2.6g (½ tsp) Salt
    • 1.3g (½ tsp) Cinnamon
    • 0.41g (⅛ tsp) Nutmeg
    • Cloves, ground
  2. 2

    In a large bowl, mix the vegetable shortening and sugar; stir until light and fluffy.

    • 122g (½ cup) Vegetable shortening
    • 122g (⅔ cup) Sugar
  3. 3

    Add the eggs gradually, mixing well after each addition.

    • 50g (1) Eggs
  4. 4

    Add the rolled oats and raisins; mix thoroughly.

    • 68g (¾ cup) Oats, rolled
    • 82g (9 tbsp) Raisins, seedless
  5. 5

    Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to the oatmeal mixture, mixing well after each addition.

    • 128ml (½ cup) Milk
  6. 6

    Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake in a hot oven (400°F) for 12 to 15 minutes.

  7. 7

    Remove the cookies from the pans at once.

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Oatmeal Cookies

200 cookiesBy U.S. War Department on Army Recipes, TM 10-412 (1946)

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ pounds (2¼ No. 56 dippers) Flour, sifted
  • 1 ¼ ounces (2¾ mess kit spoons) Baking powder
  • ¾ ounce (1½ mess kit spoons) Salt
  • ⅜ ounce (1½ mess kit spoons) Cinnamon
  • ½ mess kit spoon (½ mess kit spoon) Nutmeg
  • ¼ mess kit spoon (¼ mess kit spoon) Cloves, ground
  • 2 ¼ pounds (1⅛ No. 56 dippers) Shortening
  • 2 ¼ pounds (1⅛ No. 56 dippers) Sugar, granulated
  • 7 eggs (⅓ No. 56 dipper) Eggs
  • 1 ¼ pounds (1⅔ No. 56 dippers) Oats, rolled
  • 1 ½ pounds (1⅛ No. 56 dippers) Raisins, seedless
  • 1 — 14½-ounce can Milk, evaporated
  • 1 ¼ pints (¾ mess kit cup) Water (for milk)

Instructions

  1. 1

    Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and spices together.

  2. 2

    Mix shortening and sugar ; stir until light and fluffy.

  3. 3

    Add eggs gradually, mixing well after each addition-.

  4. 4

    Add rolled oats and raisins ; mix thoroughly.

  5. 5

    Mix milk and water. Add ftour mixture and milk alternately to oatmeal mixture, mixing well after each addition.

  6. 6

    Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased baking pans. Bake in hot oven (400^ F.) 12 to 15 minutes.

  7. 7

    Remove from pans at once.

Typed from the page scan above. If the two disagree, go with the scan.

What we changed

  • Cut from the book’s 200 cookies to two dozen.
  • Swapped “Shortening” for “Vegetable shortening” (or butter or lard).
  • Swapped “Milk, evaporated” for “Milk, whole”.
  • Scaled 12 amounts and rounded each to a kitchen measure, like ½ cup.
  • Fixed 15 fractions the scan of the 1946 page misread.
  • Tidied 2 ingredient names.
  • AI rewrote the method for a home kitchen. Tap As printed at the top to compare.

Taken from the log we keep of every edit to this recipe. We left out the line-by-line unit conversions.

Where this recipe comes from

It’s from Army Recipes (TM 10-412), the cookbook the U.S. War Department printed in 1946 for Army mess halls. As a U.S. government work, it’s in the public domain.

See the scanned book →

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