Oatmeal cookies, a glass of milk and a bluebird.

What is better on a snowy day than warm oatmeal cookies

and a glass of milk?  Ok, maybe a cup of tea!  I took my cue from my previous post about milk and my container of Quaker Oats.  The recipe is right inside the lid. 

Gather your ingredients before starting.  You'll need:

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

3 cups Quaker Oats (uncooked)

1 cup raisins (if so desired)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Using the back of a spoon, press the brown sugar into your measuring cup in order to "firmly pack" it down to 3/4 of a cup.

Beat butter and sugars until creamy.  The recipe calls for you to use an electric mixer.  I chose to mix by hand.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix well.  Add this dry mixture to the butter mixture.  Add oats and mix well.  At this point you may add raisins or try chocolate chips if you prefer!

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

Look who showed up in the 10 minutes I was waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven!  It's the first bluebird I've seen in a while.  Since I was sitting at the kitchen table and the camera was close by, I snapped a shot of this colorful visitor.

Done.  The kitchen smells delicious!

A good book, a plate of warm cookies and a cold glass of milk.....what more could I want?!