When I was a boy on the Prairies, my Mom used to make these cookies in a giant
salad bowl. I decided to work on reducing the size of the recipe from Canadian Forces
kitchen size to a manageable batch! I'm sure we used Smarties as M+M's were not available till later.
The non giant size that worked for me was to 1/4 every thing, it all fit into a regular mixing bowl.
Put the M and M's in last to avoid crushing them.
1/4 lbs butter, unsalted
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
3/4 lbs peanut butter, ( 1, 1/3 cups )
4.5 cups oatmeal, quick cook type
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 lbs unsalted blanched peanuts ( 3/4 cup )
1/8 cup milk
1/4 lbs M and M's
Makes 5 dozen ( not that I'm counting its a lot)
The directions and temperatures are all below and all good.
I see from the original recipe it came from my Auntie Eileen who lived in Compton, and then Annihiem California. Everything she made or sent us in care packages was viewed
as the height of sophistication. After all it came from Caaalifooornia ! My Aunt moved to California in the 50's and we came to visit her a few times over the years and she came back to Rapid City and Virden a few times as well. I remember my Aunt Joy came to the Rapid City Centennial or was it the Manitoba Centennial in 1971. Six years before they celebrated the end of crank phones. Party lines lasted in to the 80's in this rural area. I still remember only answering on " Two Long " rings and how people would pick up to see if the phone was busy as 4 families were sharing one line.
It was at my Nana's where I remember watching the Quebec crisis unfold on her Viking black and white TV. Tanks in the streets of Canada. I have taken a detour down memory lane..
I have posted the original recipe for those feeding an army and it has the original credit to Eileen on the card. I went to visit Uncle Russ and Auntie Eileen in 1983 crashing on their couch as a stop over on my way to Mexico in my VW. It was the thing to do back in the day. We celebrated my cousin Glens boy Russ's 2nd birthday with his and his wife Glinda's family. I was 20 and a bit crazy I guess. It cost $87 in gas to get to Mexico in those days...
When I got to the border they asked where I was going I said " Montana " What? they didn't like that answer and grilled me for a while. I can't remember if I had my "Hippy" beard or not probably looked rough after a few days of sleeping in the car. Che' Guevara sort of look.
I blew through Montana and on to California, stopping in Great Falls Idaho to pick up a Sony cassette and a copy of Led Zeppelin 4. I remember every time I turned on the radio it was Robert Plant "Big Log"
On this day, Mothers Day, 2011 I would like to post this recipe, as I do all with of my Mom's recipes as a tribute to those modern day pioneer ladies who were the mortar that held our families together.
Here's to all our mothers and there great knowledge.
In the language of the Lakota people "Mitakuye Oyasin " we are all family.
I guess we are just one global dysfunctional family.
