AUNT GERT'S DUNKING PLATTERS

I guess if I had a signature cookie this would be that cookie. When I was little my wonderful Aunt Gert would make these cookies for us with the instructions (given with a wink and a nod) that we could dunk until we were 12 and then after that it would not be polite.  These cookies do not fall apart when dunked in hot chocolate, coffee or milk.  I do have history with these cookies....when my two sons were about 7 & 9 for about three summers they sold these cookies and lemonade at the golf course at Mace Meadows in Pioneer, CA where we lived. I would get up early on Saturday morning and make the cookies and lemonade and the boys dad would put a redwood table and bench and umbrella in our old pick-up truck and drive the block to the course parking lot and they would set up their stand and stay until they sold out. One summer Saturday b0th the boys were sick and about 1:00 my doorbell rang and there stood a golfer wanting to know if I had any cookies to sell to him? Err, no, boys are sick no cookies today. Guess he liked the dunking platters.

There are lot's of recipes out there for these cookies but this one is a little different.  The only ingredient that may be hard to find is the Grape Nuts Flakes.  Every time I go to Walmart to purchase this cereal I say a little silent prayer that they will still carry it - other cereals are NOT the same.  These cookies are chewy and delicious - if you like chewy just bake them till they are done, if you like crunchy bake them until they are a darker brown and they will be crunchy.

I would often make my boys a large dunking platter but I normally make this size, nine to a sheet, about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Using the ping-pong ball size the yield will be 30 cookies. You can increase your yield considerably by making smaller cookies but my husband (says this is his FAVORITE cookie no contest) would say why???

Here they are wrapped and ready to give as gifts.

Recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar 
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups a/p flour
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2 cups Post Grape Nuts Flakes
1 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350°. Cream together butter and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla.  Mix together the baking powder, baking soda and flour and add to the creamed mixture.

Stir in the oatmeal, Grape-Nuts Flakes and nuts.  This is a very stiff dough and I use a tablespoon to scoop out the dough and then form a ball.

Bake 12-15 minutes depending on the size of the cookies you make.  If you make a big one for your little one, it takes longer, just keep an eye on the oven.

This recipe may be doubled, etc.  When I was making these for the lemonade stand I would always double.

Recipe source - my late, wonderful Aunt Gert, my memories of her are marvelous, she was loving, and stern at the same time (always kind but wanting to teach) - a wonderful cook and an inspiration to me.