Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I'm still on my quest to finding the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie. I've tried so many, chewy, crispy, ... soft recipes, but no cookie has gotten my attention quite like the chocolate chip one (the one with the pudding mix.) A cookie is a cookie, and before Allrecipes.com, this has been my go to recipe for oatmeal cookies. This was in my Williams Sonoma's Cookies book. It's more crispy than chewy, and just really good (maybe not as good as bakery cookies) but it has been my favorite recipe for the past 7 or so years.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 stick butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup flour
1-1/2 cups old fashion oats* (not quick cooking)
1/3 to 1/2 cups of raisins

* Toast your oats in the oven at 350 degrees for around 8 minutes on a baking sheet. Stir frequently so it does not burn. This will give the cookies a more nutty flavor.

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and remove from heat, stir in sugars. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Add in vanilla and egg. Then mix in flour, spices, and baking soda until combined. Add in oats and raisins. Cover, place into fridge for a few hours or overnight.
3. Preheat at 350 degrees. Scoop out 1.5 tbsp worth of cookies onto a lined cookie sheet, flatten with fingers or a spatula (it will not spread or flatten too much!.) Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes around 20-25 cookies.

I wasn't kidding when I said I had a baking marathon. I made around 45-50? cookies...4 different varieties.... all because of my SUPER last minute decision (really it was a.....go ahead) to go down south for the new year. These cookies are hopefully being consumed by a certain someone right now : ) ... a custom order of 32 homemade cookies, made fresh and personally delivered 400 miles away. hehe. They're not the prettiest thing, but nothing new in these batches... just basic cookies. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies minus the chocolate, and split them up so I can mix in different add-ins. I'm not really a fan of just giving one type of thing. I love variety... if I received over 30 cookies of the same kind (and I was the only one to eat it,) I would probably be sick of eating it after.. 10.. or maybe 15. Right??? Eh oh well, just looks like I had a ton of time, but this really did not take too long to make... it was kind of like mix, chill, scoop, bake, package. : )

Typically this recipe yields prettier cookies... I forgot what I did to make them so uniform, so they were kind of strangely shaped. These were M&M's + white chocolate chip + semi sweet chocolate chip cookies.
Andes mint chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate sugar cookies dipped in a mixture of (ratio not cups) 1/3 Guittard white chocolate melting chips + 2/3 white chocolate chips from Trader Joe's. So CUTE! Candy melts tend to be more crisp and hard, I wanted a smoother and softer white chocolate coating on my cookies because these were soft cookies, so I wanted to see how those 2 types of chocolate would interact with one another. I needed the chocolate to solidify like the melting chips do, but have the smooth, yummy, melt in your mouth texture as the white chocolate chips have. I think these were really good... so did the recipient. Chocolate sugar cookies are just too bland by themselves, and a straight up sugar icing (royal icing... sugar cookie glaze.. etc.) is not so yum.

Hope these cookies gave u tips for your future endeavors in the kitchen! You can probably sense a theme in all of my bakings... I need to use up all my holiday things.. i.e. mints.. sprinkles.. holiday m&m's... : ) I might be dipping short breads in chocolate soon for Valentine's day, then writing cute little message on each for that personal touch. I don't know, that's just an idea. Valentine's day is around the corner, gag... oh, and Chinese New Year is on the same day. The kitchen will be used quite a bit on the days before Feb 14... must prepare for that! AHHHH!