“Healthier homemade” was Susan Nolte’s mantra when she came up with her line of cookie mixes in Connecticut four years ago.

Made with rolled oats and whole wheat flour, these convenient mixes are now available on this coast at many farmers markets and stores in Southern California, thanks to her daughter, Marissa, who started managing business development for the company.

May Cookie Co., named after Susan Nolte’s great-grandmother, makes three types of cookie mixes: Triple Chocolate Oatmeal, Oatmeal Cranberry and the vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip.

Recently, I had a chance to try samples of the mixes.

The Chocolate Chocolate Chip mix requires the addition of oil, vanilla extract and soy milk, rice milk or almond milk. The resulting dough is very thick and dry, so much so that you really have to work at it to get it to hold together and to incorporate the chips thoroughly. They bake up with a quite fudgy texture.

The Oatmeal Cranberry was probably my favorite because the sweet-tart dried berries married so well with the hearty nature of the cookie. You add butter, an egg and vanilla extract to the mix. The cookies are thick, soft and buttery. And they get chewier as they cool.

Each mix makes about 24 small cookies, each about three bites worth. If you’re a from-scratch baker, these probably won’t make you switch. But if you’re time-pressed baker who prefers a helping hand, these are a handy alternative.

A box sells for $8.99 or three boxes for $24 online at Abe’s Market.

Winner of Last Week’s Contest: In the most recent Food Gal contest, I asked you to tell me your favorite memory that involves cake. The winner will receive a gift card good for one free Nothing Bundt Cake individual Bundlet every month for a year, which must be picked up at the new Nothing Bundt Cake bakery in Fremont.

Congrats to:

Diane, who wrote, “My favorite memory about cake was when I was about 10 or 11. My dad loved maraschino cherry cake and I loved to get a store boxed cake mix and add the cherries to the cake mix. I did this many times for him and he got the biggest kick out of eating a cake that I had made for him. He would sit reading the newspaper while I had a big wooden spoon that I used to mix up the batter and then he would supervise as to how many cherries I should use to put in the cake. Then, one year, Christmas arrived and there were quite a few wrapped presents under the tree for me, way more than usual. My dad handed me one present and asked that I open it first. It was an electric mixer, then he handed me another present and it was a cake mix and another and another present until I had unwrapped about 30 individual Betty Crocker cakes mixes. My dad was glowing from ear to ear. The one final present that he had especially wrapped for me was a huge jar of, you guessed it, maraschino cherries. I did get other gifts that year but I don’t think any of them meant as much to me as all those individually wrapped cake mixes. My dad passed away many years ago but I would give anything to bake him another maraschino cherry cake. I will never forget that Christmas morning with all those cake mixes stacked up around me and my dad’s beaming smile as I got busy with my new electric mixer and baked him a beautiful Christmas Maraschino Cherry Cake. Ahhh, such good memories.”

More Cookie Mixes to Try: Bakesale Betty’s Ginger Molasses Cookie Mix

And: Baked Brownie and Blondie Mixes