I have been fine-tuning this recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies for about a year and a half.  It was originally based on a recipe from an old Quaker Oats package, but I saw some room for improvement and have adjusted accordingly.  I think these cookies are awse and they are usually very well received (including someone complimenting Marshall on them this year at the races and him responding, “quiet, Peter made them and it will go to his head”).  Also, I often make them for Kristi to give to her students as a bribe or reward or just so they can mock her husband behind her back.

Here’s what you’ll need:
1 stick +6 tablespoons salted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/2 cup white flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 and 1/4 cup raisins
3 cups old fashioned oats

I enjoy ingredient lineup shots

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  In a large mixing bowl (I stick with metal since I get super aggressive with hand mixers and tend to chip the ceramic variety), beat softened butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix for another minute or so.

I like to combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and make sure it is well mixed together before adding to the mixture. Once that’s done, add it in, and after mixing for another minute it will basically look like regular cookie dough.  Add the raisins; mix lightly (low setting on the mixer).  Finally, fold in the 3 cups of oats using a large spoon.

Be prepared for a serious arm workout when "folding" in the oats. Its like stirring cement thats sat out for awhile

Drop dough using a spoon in tall pillar-like blobs on an un-greased cookie sheet.  Can’t think of a better way to explain what I mean there, but basically the dough will melt and spread out; if they start out tall, the cookies will stay moist.

Feel free to comment with a better description than "tall pillar-like blobs"

By starting out with dough cylinders instead of blobs, you will get a thicker cookie that is soft instead of crunchy.

See the way the center looks on the ones on the far right? Thats what you're looking for; golden brown outside with a soft inside. It's all about the dough cylinders

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until very light golden brown.  Cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet then move them to a wire rack and cool completely.  You’ll end up with about 30-36 medium sized cookies:

Note the ingenious use of three plastic Digitas Summer Outing 2007 cups to support the rack. Those 32 ounce cups were once used to hold productivity-crushing beers when the tap room would open at 4:00 on Thursdays and Fridays, but now they just hold water from my Brita. Gettin' old

That’s it.  The vanilla and cinnamon flavors stand out in the final product but compliment the raisin’s sweetness really well.  They’re good cookies, enjoy!

My apologies for not having a full post this week.  I spent a week as a vegetarian plus a few days as a vegan and wanted to recap it but didn’t get around to it.  Will do so early next week.