The random number generator’s next pick was the Filled Oatmeal Cookies on page 80.

This recipe requires not only a cookie dough but also a filling. The recipe offers up either a pumpkin or date filling. I am not a fan of pumpkin, so I chose the date filling.

First up was to make the filling, since it needed to cool down before going into the cookies.

While that was cooling, I mixed up the dough.

This is one of few roll-out recipes that doesn’t require the dough to be refrigerated. Once the dough was together, I started rolling it and cutting rounds for the cookies. Half of the rounds had a cross cut in the middle — these were for the tops.

The bottoms of each cookie were laid out on a cookie sheet, then I spooned on a little of the date filling. Finally, I put a top on each one and sealed the edges, and baked them.

They weren’t quite what I was expecting. The cookies turned out quite dense. They were also fairly thick, in part because it was two cookies stacked, but each individual half was thicker than it needed to be. (I was careful to roll them out to 1/8 inch, as indicated in the recipe — I even pulled out my rolling pin rings, which I rarely do!)

When you get a bite with cookie and a good bit of filing, they’re pretty good. But most bites didn’t have much or any filling. On their own, the oatmeal cookies weren’t all that great. They were barely sweet, heavy on the molasses, and dense.

If I wanted to try them again, I would do a few things differently to try and tweak the recipe. I’d double the amount of filling in each cookie. I would also roll them out a bit thinner if I could manage it without them falling apart.

Bottom line: These turned out to be quite a bit of work for not very great cookies. They weren’t hard to make, just fiddly with the filling, rolling, and assembling. On their own the oatmeal cookies were dense, and only with a good amount of filling were they enjoyable to eat. On the whole, I was unimpressed by them. And, my guests didn’t care for them much, either. I could tweak them a bit to make them better, but I can’t see myself making these again.