Ranger cookies have a lot going for them.  They’re quick and easy to make.  They’re delicious.  They count as a breakfast food (at least at my house, c’mon, they have cereal in them).  Most important, it’s the best tasting cookie dough that you’ll ever find.  A cookie that tastes great before it’s even a cookie.  That’s when you know you are dealing with something really great.

I grew up on these cookies.  Everybody in the house liked them.  As a mom, I can appreciate how nice it is to bake something and not have someone in the family say “oh, I don’t like that”.  At the same time, I can see how frustrating it is to try to make cookies when everyone is trying to eat the dough. 

Personally, I blame the corn flakes.  The just something about the soft dough and crunchy flakes.  Which of course led to the threat.  The threat passed down through the generations.  The threat that as a child caused you to pause for a moment, just a moment, before you threw caution to the wind and ate that big spoonful of dough.  “If you raw cookie dough it will give you worms.”  I’m told it’s something my great grandmother used to say as little ones tried to gobble up the cookie dough before she could get it in the oven.  I’m pleased to announce that I never had any such trouble from eating any cookie dough.  Actually, I’m really pleased about that.

Now I am passing yet another childhood favorite down to my children.  They love them just as much as I do and take great delight in sneaking a cookie at breakfast time. 

Lulu helped out with these.

She is a great helper in the kitchen.  She takes her work very seriously, asking questions about the ingredients as she pours them into the mixing bowl.  However, she doesn’t have any interest in eating the dough raw.  Maybe with time she’ll realize what she is missing.  In the meantime, it’s nice that I can actually have enough dough for a nice big batch of cookies.

I’ve seen a lot of different recipes for Ranger cookies over the years.  This is the one I grew up with.  It’s adapted from the recipe in our church cookbook.  It was submitted by a woman who was one of the school cooks.  She also made the most amazing peanut butter bars.

ranger cookies

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups flour

2 cups oatmeal

2 cups corn flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs, mix well.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Add oatmeal and cornflakes.

Use a spoon to scoop into ball shape and place on cookie sheet.

Bake 10 – 12 minutes.