Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Although oatmeal cookies originated in England in the 1800s and were first brought to the United States by British settlers, the first American recipe appeared in 1896 from a Boston cook named Fannie Merritt Farmer.

After suffering a stroke as a teenager, Fannie was housebound but took up cooking for guests at her mother’s boarding house. Self-taught, she trained until she was in her thirties and became so proficient that she was invited to take up the position of principal of the p