The Best Chewy Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

I once heard that most of the time people crave sweets, it’s not because they really want sweets but because they crave the emotions and feelings their mind associates with them. For example, when you’re eating birthday cake, you’re typically surrounded by family and friends, having a celebration.  So if you get a craving for birthday cake, perhaps you are just craving that interaction.

These cookies have been my favorite cookie for years, but in the past two years, they became more than just a favorite recipe.  These chewy oatmeal cherry cookies were cookies my step-mother-in-law Monica used to make at nearly every family get together.  Monica was a second mom to me.  She was perfectly organized and incredibly motivated, a combination of traits that made her one of the most efficient people I ever met.  I lightheartedly saw her as a “Leslie Knope” kind of person.

When it came to baking, Monica treated recipes as if they were scientific lab procedures; she recorded her thoughts on the recipe, what changes she made, and any other notes she wanted to remember.  A copy of her recipe is shown above, a simple piece of paper that shows so much about the kind of person she was.

Monica was diagnosed with ovarian cancer about 1 week after Jack was born.  She spent the next year fighting the toughest battle of her life, a battle she ultimately lost a year later.

I bake these cookies because it brings back my memories of Monica and because they are still my favorite.

Stay savvy,