Unfinished Desires and Oatmeal Cookies

This week's book, Unfinished Desires, is about teenage girls and all the drama that they bring to the table.  The book is about a "toxic year" at Mount St. Gabriel's, an all girl's catholic boarding school in North Carolina.  The stories of multiple generations of students and teachers (nuns) are told in the book, with the events of one generation inextricably tied to the events of the generation before.   The way girls and women treat each other - Mount St. Gabriel's is referred to in the book as a "hotbed of bitchery"- are depicted by Gail Godwin and an incredibly insightful and real way.  The women and girls that fill the book are each interesting and honest characters, all of them are likable in some way and horrible in others.  The oatmeal cookies do not play a big part in the book, but were merely a passing reference to a favorite dish of students made by one of the founders of Mount St. Gabriel's, Mother Fiona Finney.  

Gail Godwin's Unfinished Desires is about all girls catholic school in North Carolina, and specifically two classes of girls, about 20 years apart.  The book is partly told from the perspective of the students and teachers of the Class of 1955 and partly told 46 years later, from the perspective of the former headmistress of the school, Mother Suzanne Ravenel.  In 2001, the school, Mount St. Gabriel, has been closed, and Mother Ravenal lives in a retired nun's community in Massachusetts.  As headmistress, Mother Ravenal was a force to be reckoned with - she ruled the school completely and fiercely guarded its reputation and history.  In 2001, Mother Ravenal has lost her school and her influence, and is fairly miserable in her surroundings.  Some of her old students suggest she write a history of the school, and as she embarks upon this we learn about her history at the school and the "toxic year" of 1951.  That year, the freshman class stage a version of a play that Mother Ravenal wrote about the founding of the school when she was a student.   Several of these freshman are the daughters of Mother Ravenal's former classmates - and the old scars from what happened to them and between them deeply effect the actions of the class of 1955 and in the end lead to tragedy.  I will say that throughout the book there is a sense of warning and foreboding about the horrible events of 1951, but in the end I found it somewhat mild drama in light of all the buildup.  Godwin creates some vivid characters here and that is what I enjoyed most about the book.  Mother Ravenel - a deeply flawed leader, Tildy - a teenage ring leader with wit and mountains of insecurity, Maud - Tildy's "project" a beautiful, sophisticated girl with an unstable home life, Mother Malloy - a kind and sickly nun who inspires the girls. This was a fun and interesting read - I learned a lot about Catholicism but also enjoyed the ups and downs of teenage girl drama.

Oatmeal cookies with Raisins and Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Joanne Chang's Flour Cookbook

These are hands down the yummiest Oatmeal Cookies I have ever made. I played around with the recipe a lot - adding more oatmeal, throwing in some chocolate chips, adding vanilla, upping the amount of salt and spices, and substituting maple syrup instead of white sugar.  The results were really delicious cookies that were delicious the day they were baked and also soft and chewy and yummy 4 days after as well.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature butter

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup or so chocolate chips

Prehear oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the maple syrup and vanilla. 

 

Add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.

Mix in the raisins and chocolate chips into the flour mixture and toss to coat.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix till combined.

Doll out balls of cookie dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, keep 2 inches apart.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until lightly browned.  Let cook for 10 minutes on cookie sheet on rack, then remove cookies from pan and let cool directly on the rack.

Chang recommends refrigerating the dough before baking for 24 hours to let the flavors deepen.  I did not do this and the cookies were great.  I am sure they would have been even better if I followed Chang's advice.