Often I have brides over for tea. In fact, sometimes I have them in for lunch - if she's stopping by the studio in the middle of her working day, or has wedding appointments stacked up from morning till night, I like to make sure she is well-nourished and happy. Once that blood sugar drops too low it can be very hard to make a good decision, and in the five years I have been in business I have yet to deal with a real Bridezilla, and I largely attribute this to oatmeal cookies. Also, it's one of the perks of dealing with a small business, and I take a certain pleasure in offering something that Large Impersonal National Chain cannot. (I think you know who I mean, right?)

I won't actually claim they're health food, but as far as cookies go I think they're a pretty good bet. They have whole-wheat flour and oats and raisins in them, and those are all good things. They do contain some fat and sugar, but fat makes your hair shiny and sugar keeps you sweet. I am right now in the middle of baking a very large batch of these for Father's Day (Dad's a big fan, and very hard to buy for), and while I'm at it I thought I would pass along the recipe. Feel free to claim it as your own - my ego won't be bruised a'tall.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole-wheat flour (white is OK, but the wheat flour adds nuttiness and some extra fiber and nutrition, too)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup shortening (I use butter-flavor Crisco, or sometimes part butter and part shortening if I'm feeling decadent)
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon real vanilla
2 cups uncooked oats
1 cup raisins
I like walnuts in my own personal cookies. Walnuts have some good stuff too, Omega-3 or DHA or something. However, some of my brides are bound to be allergic, so I don't always add them.

METHOD:
Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the raisins, making sure they are separate and not all squished together in a big wad. Next, cream the shortening and the sugar together till it looks fluffy, and then add the eggs and beat until it is gooey. I use a stand mixer for this, but if you really want to inject some virtue into these, go ahead and do it by hand and burn off some calories in advance. Add the liquid part to the dry mix and stir and stir and stir. Here's the hard part: put it in the refrigerator overnight. I know - you thought that you were about to get some delicious cookies after all your hard labor in the kitchen, but these are much better the next day. You certainly can bake them right away, at 350 on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes, but they will be crisp and sort of crumbly. If you wait overnight, they are toothsomely chewy instead. They do stick a bit, so either line your sheet with foil or parchment, or be prepared to scrape a little. This makes . . . several dozen. I use one of those miniature scoop thingies for mass-productivity, but a regular spoon is fine, too. Enjoy!