Thrifty Acres - Vintage Cookie Tin - And A Recipe For Flling It

Hello! I'm well aware that there are plenty of cookie tins out there that have been made to look old. I've picked up my share of such items in a thrift store, thinking a tin was vintage, only to turn it over to see the dreaded "Made In China" sticker, or the label left over from a commercial bakery, affixed to the bottom.  Disappointing! 

However, I spotted this the other day at a local Goodwill, priced at
 one dollar.

I inspected it carefully for any signs of it being a newer tin made to look old and couldn't find any. And it certainly showed signs of being well-used, which led me to believe that it is, indeed, vintage and not a reproduction - the red finish is worn through in spots on the top edge of the tin, undoubtedly from countless times the lid had been pulled off, then put back on. I fondly imagined it as a well-used tin in some grandmother's home. Who knows how many times it had been filled, and how many varieties of cookies had been stored inside over the years?

I don't know how old the tin actually is, but the design looks old so I'm happy with that. It's good-sized, too - measures 10" in diameter and is 3 1/2" tall. 

The purchase of this new-to-me cookie tin inspired me to make the following recipe:

The Flintoffs' Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream together:

1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar

Add:

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together:

2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Add these dry ingredients to butter/sugar/egg mixture. 

Mix in:

12 ounces chocolate chips
4 ounces chopped candy (recipe specified a Hershey bar)
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 - length of time depends on how big you make the cookies. I use a vintage ice cream scoop that equals two tablespoons of cookie dough, so a baking time of about 12 minutes yielded these cookies:

A recipe like this can be made with various substitutions, like using other chip flavors and various candies instead of the Hershey bar. I had some Hershey's Special Dark miniature Easter eggs, bought on clearance after that holiday was over, so I chopped them up to use in this recipe. Come Halloween, any similar leftover candies could be used as well. The addition of candy bar-type chocolates makes these cookies extra good! 

My husband doesn't like nuts in baked goods, so I left them out and added 1 cup of coconut instead. 

I used white wheat flour in place of regular white flour - this swap, along the oatmeal, makes these more nutritious than the typical chocolate chip cookie. Thus, we can eat these with a clear conscience, right? 

Well, not quite - but they're still really good! 

I would like to thank the Flintoffs for the recipe, but I don't know who they are! I clipped the recipe from a church cookbook I'd gotten from a thrift store, but the recipe submitter had shed no light on the Flintoffs or their cookies.