Recipes and Art History: Pride of Iowa Chocolate Chip Cookies

I think an explanation of this recipe name is in order: this is my Mom's recipe, and she was born and grew up on a farm in Iowa, and so she named these her "Pride of Iowa" cookies. I used to have these all of the time as a kid!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups of quaker oats
1 cup coconut
1 package of chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions:

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside. Mix the margarine and both sugars until you have a creamy mixture, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Gradually stir flour mixture into creamed mixture. Add oats, coconut, chocolate chips and nuts. Drop spoonfulls of cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

An Iowa card from the "State Governors, Arms, Etc." series of trading cards issued circa 1888. I chose this image to go along with the recipe since it shows an Iowa farmer on the left, and my Mom grew up on an Iowa farm. Click here to learn more about this Iowa trading card.

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Open Access Program.