President Clinton's Oatmeal Cookies

I have read a lot of good things about Sherry Yard's latest book, Desserts by the Yard. Among other things, Sherry has been a pastry chef at Spagos in Beverley Hills. Accordingly, when I was ordering Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, I also ordered Desserts by the Yard.


Desserts by the Yard is a beautiful book, and is divided into recipes by the stage in Sherry's career when she learned how to make the various dishes. She has worked in a number of different countries, so a number of different cultural influences shine through in her recipes. Some of Sherry's recipes are way too extravagant for me to ever consider making (for example, her chocolate Oscars creations); however, many of them sound delicious and are things that you could make at home.


One of the "home-ier" recipes is for President Clinton's Oatmeal Cookies. It isn't Bill Clinton's recipe; rather, it is a type of cookie that Sherry made for the then US President that he liked very much. And what is not to like about these cookies? They are chewy, sweet and pleasantly oaty. They also contain alcohol-soaked dried fruit, which I think makes them.


Sherry has helpfully provided the recipe for these cookies here on her website. However, if you are a dessert fan, or just love looking at pictures of well constructed, delicious desserts, then Desserts by the Yard may be the book for you.


Instead of using fat raisins (because I didn't have the ingredients to make them), I poached one and a half cups of sultanas in a quarter of a cup of rum until the fruit had absorbed the rum. Everyone at work liked these cookies, so I don't think that this substitution detracted from the end result. I baked them straight away rather than creating logs with the dough and freezing them, and it worked just fine.


If you like home-style oatmeal cookies with a twist, this is a great recipe to try.