Oatmeal Ice-Box Cookies

These old-fashioned oatmeal cookies use the icebox method: mix the dough, shape it into a log, refrigerate overnight, then slice and bake whenever you want fresh cookies. The dough keeps for days, so you can bake a few at a time.

The combination of butter and lard is old-school for a reason. Butter brings flavor, but lard creates a shorter, more crumbly texture with a snap you can’t get from all-butter dough. If you’ve ever wondered what gives heritage cookie recipes that distinctive crisp, this is it.

Buttermilk reacting with baking soda provides the only leavening. No eggs in this dough at all, which is part of what keeps these cookies thin and crunchy rather than puffy and cakey. The acid in the buttermilk also helps the brown sugar flavors bloom.

Slice them thin. These are meant to be crisp, almost cracker-like wafers with a toasty oat flavor. Thick slices bake up soft and doughy, which isn’t the goal here.

Pro Tips

• Chill the dough overnight, not just a few hours. A full overnight rest lets the oats hydrate and the flavors meld. The dough also firms up enough to slice cleanly.
• Use a sharp, thin knife for slicing. A dull blade crushes the log and gives you lopsided cookies.
• Dissolve the baking soda fully in the buttermilk before adding. Undissolved soda leaves bitter spots in the finished cookies.

Variations

• Cinnamon brown sugar: Add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients for a warmly spiced version.
• Oatmeal raisin icebox cookies: Press raisins into each slice before baking. Adding them to the dough log makes clean slicing harder.