Lehigh County Oatmeal Cookies

These oatmeal cookies from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania carry the hallmarks of Pennsylvania Dutch baking: simple ingredients, no-fuss technique, and a result that punches well above its weight. Rolled oats, sugar, melted butter, one egg, baking powder, and almond extract. That’s the whole list.

Almond extract instead of vanilla is what makes these distinctive. It gives each cookie a fragrant, almost marzipan-like quality that sets them apart from every other oatmeal cookie out there. Only half a teaspoon, but you’ll notice it immediately.

These bake fast: five minutes at 350°F (175°C). The short bake time means they come out thin and lacy with crisp edges and a slightly chewy center. Remove them from the pan while still warm or they’ll stick as the melted sugar hardens.

Kitchen Tips

• Drop them small, about a teaspoon each. They spread significantly during baking.
• Watch them closely. Five minutes is not a suggestion. At six minutes they go from golden to burnt.
• A silicone baking mat works better than greasing the pan here. These cookies are mostly sugar and oats with very little flour, so they stick to metal easily.
• Let them cool on a wire rack. They firm up as they cool and reach their final crispy texture after about 10 minutes.

Variations

• Add a handful of sliced almonds to complement the almond extract flavor.
• Stir in mini chocolate chips for a chocolate-almond oatmeal cookie.
• Use brown sugar instead of white for a chewier cookie with a deeper, more caramel-like sweetness.