A few days ago I had these cookies at a friend’s house and have been dreaming of them ever since. I know it’s an acquired taste, but I love raisins in my desserts – particularly cookies. My mom was always quite strict about me and my sisters overloading on sweets, and tried to sneak in healthy bits into every bite, and these were a classic of hers. So, while making dinner last night, I made the dough on the side, kept it in the fridge, then popped them into the oven as my husband and I were eating dinner. That way, when we were done and ready to sit and watch our ritual Monday night episode of Boardwalk Empire, we had gorgeous, thick, chewy oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven.
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (the recipe calls for light brown sugar, but it’s so hard to find consistent supplies, so I opted for dark brown sugar and they turned out just fine)
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt (you can use 1/4 teaspoon, but the saltiness beautifully compliments the sweetness of the raisin’s)
1 1/2 cup of oats
3/4 cup of raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans (you can use walnuts if you like, but I like pecans more)
First, cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs together. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix together. Slowly, add in the raisins, oats and nuts to the mixture. Fold in together. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or so, until the dough is a bit hard – this process allows the cookies to partially cook when in the oven, and allows them to be more chewy, and less crunchy. When done, scoop the cookies onto a non-stick pan and bake for 10-12 minutes max – you want the center of the cookie to still be slightly uncooked, only the edges should be golden. Remove, and let cool on the cookie sheet for another 5 minutes. Then, enjoy!
I love these cookies… delicious, delicious, delicious… plus, it’s nice to keep some of the dough in the fridge or freezer, and just pop them into the oven 15 minutes or so before serving and enjoy them nice and warm.
Recipe, courtesy of smittenkitchen.com
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