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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are hard to beat. Their edges are crisp, their
flavor is sweet, and their texture is wonderfully soft and chewy. They are
great for breakfast, or as a snack, or crumbled in a trifle, layered with
yogurt and fresh fruit. While plump and juicy raisins seem to be the
favorite in these cookies, you could use dried cherries or cranberries
during the holiday season, or you can add some chopped nuts or even milk
or dark chocolate chips.
Jean Anderson in her book The American Century Cookbook
tells us that the first recipe she found for Oatmeal Cookies was in the
1896 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. That recipe, although called
an Oatmeal Cookie, only contained 1/2 cup of rolled oats. During the
Second World War, The Quaker Oats
Company published a recipe for Oatmeal Cookies that called for
shortening, as butter was in short supply. Today we like our cookies nice
and buttery, so butter has come to replace the shortening. And we also
like our Oatmeal Cookies bursting with rolled oats, so for this recipe we
are using a whooping three cups. I like to use old-fashioned not
quick-cooking rolled oats. I prefer their flavor and thickness. While both
may start with oats that are cleaned, toasted, and hulled
to become what we call oat groats, the difference between the two
is in the thickness of the oats after the oat groats have been steamed
and flattened.
The pairing of Oatmeal Cookies with raisins is perfect. Although I like
to use dark raisins in these cookies you could also use golden raisins.
Both dark and golden raisins are simply dried Thompson seedless grapes.
The difference is that dark raisins are sun dried which gives them that
dark shriveled appearance, whereas golden raisins are treated with sulfur
dioxide first to prevent them from turning dark and then air dried to keep
them a golden yellow color. Raisins, like dates, have a high sugar
content, and are a good source of vitamins and iron. Because of their high
sugar content they retain moisture which keeps these cookies soft for
several days.
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Oatmeal
Raisin Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with oven rack
in the center of the oven. Line two baking
sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of
your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugars until
creamy and smooth (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating
after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk
together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Add the flour
mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated. Stir in the rolled
oats and raisins.
For large cookies,
use a generous 1/4 cup of batter (I like to use an ice cream scoop) and place
six cookies on each baking sheet. Flatten the cookies slightly so they are about 1/2 inch (1.25
cm) thick. Bake the cookies for about 14 - 18 minutes rotating the cookie sheets
halfway through the baking time. The cookies are done when golden brown around
the edges but still a little soft in the centers. (The longer the cookies bake
the more crispy they will be.) Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few
minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to finish
cooling. These cookies will keep several days at room temperature.
Makes about 18 large cookies
Sources:
Anderson, Jean. The American Century Cookbook.
Clarkson/Potter Publishers. New York: 1997.
Scherber, Amy & Dupree, Toy Kim. The Sweeter Side of
Amy's Bread. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York: 2008.
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted
butter, room temperature
1 cup (210 grams) light or
dark brown
sugar
1/3 cup (65 grams)
granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure
vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose
flour
1 teaspoon
baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground
cinnamon
3 cups (260 grams)
old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (140 grams) dark raisins
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