It's now officially cookie season, time to enjoy fresh baked chocolate chips and ginger snaps on a chilly afternoon. Though there are no official studies to confirm this, I believe that they taste better coming out of cookie jars rather than plastic wrappers.
Find out for yourself by collecting. You have six decades to choose from. Cookie jars first entered American kitchens in the '30s, when Depression-pinched homes began baking. Early jars were simple, cylindrical affairs, but from the '40s onward, the makers got fancier, issuing cute jars resembling people, fruits, bears, elephants -- you name it.Many jars were made by legendary 20th-century American potteries. McCoy was arguably most prolific, with themes running from train engines to roosters to leprechauns to its classic round ball shape. Then there's American Bisque, known for its people jars -- grandmas, Dutch children and hobos, to name a few. Another notable maker was Brush Pottery, whose cute nursery rhyme characters and teddy bears must have made snacking irresistible.
In the '40s, Hull made jars to match its Little Red Riding Hood dinnerware, while Shawnee made a corn jar to go with its corn serving ware (though the company is best known for its smiling pig jars). Roseville adapted classic flower themes like clematis, magnolia and freesia (used on its candlesticks, vases and bowls) to ornament jars.
Collectors -- and there are thousands of them -- tend to specialize, perhaps with an assortment of head jars, vegetable themes or designs by only one maker.
One collector, Lucille Bromberek,, amassed so many varied jars that she opened the Cookie Jar Museum in Lemont,, Ill. It's 20 miles southwest of Chicago and open daily year round. Here, you'll find 2,000 jars, grouped in categories like lions and lambs, dogs and cats, kitties and mice, and nursery rhymes. Lucille recom-
mends, "If you want to give someone a gift, you'll never go wrong giving a cookie jar -- filled with fresh baked cookies, of course."
OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup golden or dark rasins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup softened butter
1 1/3 packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Combine egggs, raisins and vanilla extract in a bowl and let stand, covered, for one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together softened butter and sugars. Add flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda. Mix well. Add raisin mixture, oatmeal and nuts (optional). Don't worry if dough seems dry.
Drop by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on rack. Makes about 30 cookies, so be sure to have your jar standing by!