National Oatmeal Cookie Day

National Oatmeal Cookie Day is on April 30th in the United States.

This is a national day celebrating two common items combined, the cookie and oatmeal. It is not celebrating the cocktail of the same name - yes, there is a drink called the Oatmeal Cookie.

Cookies, which are also known as biscuits, are small, flat baked treats. This particular type has oatmeal, which are ground oat groats, added into the mix.

A similar type of item would be flapjack, or oat bars, although flapjacks are not cookies, as they are bars rather than flat biscuits, and they use rolled oats, rather than ground ones.

Other ingredients, such as chocolate chips or raisins, could also be added to the cookie mix if desired. Oatmeal, by itself, is quite healthy, but the health benefits tend to be higher before it is used to make cookies.

National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day

March 18th is National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day in the United States.

Yet another day celebrating a type of cookie (or biscuit) and yet another biscuit that uses the ever-popular oatmeal as an ingredient.

Lacy oatmeal cookies contain oatmeal - naturally - which is ground oat groats. Oatmeal is quite a healthy addition to a diet, although generally, in order to receive the full health benefits, it's best not to wrap them around a cookie first! The lacy part of the name comes from the appearance of the finished cookies - they are full of lace-like holes.

These cookies would normally be a type of drop cookie, which are made from a comparatively soft dough, spoonfuls of which are then "dropped" onto the baking tray before they are cooked. In the UK, biscuits of this type are generally the only ones that are referred to as cookies.

National Oatmeal Nut Waffle Day

National Oatmeal Nut Waffle Day is on March 11th in the United States.

This is yet another day celebrating a really, really specific type of food. Not merely a waffle, but an oatmeal waffle, and not merely an oatmeal waffle but an oatmeal nut waffle.

Waffles are made from dough that is cooked between two plates, or "waffle irons," which gives them their distinctive appearance. In oatmeal nut waffles, the dough is made as usual, only oats and chopped nuts (of whatever type) are folded into the mixture before it is cooked.

The waffles are then cooked, as usual, and are usually eaten for breakfast, perhaps with a sweet accompaniment, such as maple syrup or fruit. This is a healthier version of the normal waffle recipe. Of course, to keep it healthier, fruit is a far better accompaniment than maple syrup is.

National Oatmeal Month

January is National Oatmeal Month in the United States.

The name oatmeal can be used to refer to a couple of different things, both of which contain oats. The first, which is also known as white oats, is ground oat groats - the groat is the hulled kernel of the cereal grain, which is in this case the oat, and is a wholegrain - which may be rolled, steel-cut (which means cutting the groats into pieces) or crushed. The second meaning of the name is for a porridge which is made from oats.

Oatmeal contains soluble fibre which can help lower cholesterol. It has long been associated with Scotland, due to the fact that oats grow better in Scotland's short and wet growing season than wheat does.

Oatmeal, the porridge, is a dish which is often served hot, making it an ideal warming and healthy winter breakfast dish. It may also have other ingredients added to it.

Oatmeal, the ground oats, is used as an ingredient in other dishes, one of the most famous being the haggis.

National Oatmeal Day

In the United States October 29th is National Oatmeal Day.

Oatmeal is the ground, hulled kernels of oats, a cereal crop. Oats are most commonly used for livestock, but they are also popular as a human food. Oatmeal can also be made from rolled, crushed and steel-cut oats as well as being ground, and is also known as white oats.

Oatmeal is popular as a breakfast cereal - such as in Quaker Oats, one of the more well known varieties - and the oatmeal does seem to have some health benefits (in moderation, anyway) and rolled oats have been used by athletes for years.

Oatmeal is a dish that is strongly associated with Scotland, whose environment is more suited to the growing of oats than of wheat. There are as a result many different dishes in Scotland that incorporate oats, not just the traditional porridge. It's also used in cheese, oatcakes, baking, haggis and a variant of black pudding amongst others.

Oatmeal is therefore quite versatile, and can be used in many recipes, such as biscuits or cookies, and not just eaten for breakfast.