These oatmeal date ranger cookies have been my favorite cookies for over 10 years. I make them when I have good friends coming over, I make them when I’m feeling down and need a pick me up, I bake them for the kids because they have oats and dates, I bake them to gift them to dear friends and family. I have tried many MANY cookie recipes, fancy ones, simple ones, chocolate ones, nutty ones but these remain the ones I go back to.

The recipe probably comes from better homes and gardens but I am not sure, it has been written in my recipe book for years and I have made it enough times for my friends and family to call them Sawsan’s cookies. They are just the right amount of sweetness, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. The texture is really interesting with the oats and coconut and stopping at just one is nearly impossible.

The original recipe gives you a choice between oats and crisp rice cereal and a choice between dates and raisins but I have always made them with date and oats. I think that is what I had on hand the first time I made them and they were so good that I didn’t feel the urge to try any other variations,I mean why mess with perfection.That being said, I have given the recipes to friends who have tried it with cereal, raisins and even  butterscotch chips and loved them every time.

Oatmeal date ranger cookies

Printable recipe without the  images here

1 cup  sugar (half granulated white sugar and half packed brown sugar or all white)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1  egg

1  teaspoon vanilla

1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups crisp rice cereal or 1 cup rolled oats or instant oats

1 and 1/3 cups flaked coconut

1 cup snipped pitted whole dates or raisins

In a medium mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat until combined.

Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in cereal or oats, coconut, and dates or raisins. the mix will be quite crumbly don’t worry it is supposed to be this way

 Take a piece of the dough the size of an egg and press it in your hand then roll it until it forms a ball 

Arrange on a baking sheet 3-4 cm apart

 Bake in a 375 degree F  (180 C )oven  in the lower rake for about 8 minutes or until edges are golden brown.Keep an eye on them they do tend to brown very quickly

place the under the broiler for a couple of minutes to get the tops to be golden brown

 Cool on cookie sheet for 3-5 minute. Transfer to a wire rack; cool. Makes about 45 to 50 cookies.