Oatmeal Cookies

I have come to learn that there are two types of people: those who like raisins in baked goods and those who think that it is an abomination to put a raisin in anything. Clearly those people are crazy but we all have our issues: I, for one, feel that walnuts make any baked good completely and utterly inedible. 

I have been playing around with an oatmeal cookie recipe and in order to please both types of people I have made two different cookies: one with raisins and one with chocolate. I will be completely honest here and set the bar high: my husband said that these are the best cookies I have ever made. 

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Oatmeal Cookies
from WSJ

1½ cups raisins or chocolate chips
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1½ tsp fine sea salt
1½ sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
6 tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
1 extra-large egg*
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

*You can use one large egg in this recipe if that is what you have on hand. Please note that if you double the recipe, you will need to adjust the amount of eggs that you use.

Make the cookies: Soak raisins in hot water for 30 minutes, then drain. In a small bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.

Using an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down frequently. Take care not to overbeat.

Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in oats, followed by drained raisins, egg and vanilla.

Refrigerate dough for at least one day.

Use a size 20 or size 50 scoop and space cookies onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake cookies at 350 for 14.5 minutes (size 20) or 10.5 minutes (size 50).

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Apple Reports Insane Quarterly Results, I Create Insane New Cookie?

I have come up with some new cookie sandwich recipes over the past few weeks that I really love:

1. Cookie #1: Chewy Oatmeal Cherry Cookie with Brown Sugar Filling
2. Cookie #2: Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookie with Espresso Filling

Last night I finished Cookie #3...

I am quite certain that many people will either (1) immediately dislike the cookie simply from the description or (2) taste it and then proceed to dislike it.

If the above happens, I will politely acknowledge their lack of approval and continue to believe that this is one of the most unique and tasty cookies I have ever made.

The cookie needs to be introduced with the following question: 

Is there anything better than a chewy, sesame covered, sweet bean paste filled, sesame ball? 

The answer to this question may be a resounding "no" BUT it was a goal of mine to turn it into my third cookie...and if you have never had this [utterly delicious] Chinese pastry, please, try one right away.  

I present to you the sesame-ball-as-cookie cookie:

Sesame Cookie with Sweet Red Bean Paste Filling

Cure for Cancer or New Cookie?

My menu currently consists of four cookie sandwiches plus, what I believe to be, heavenly caramels and dark chocolate truffles.

I have been working on a new cookie/frosting combination and think that I may have hit the jackpot: chewy oatmeal cherry cookies with a rich brown sugar buttercream.

I have been playing around with a few different oatmeal cookie recipes and came up with one that I love. My next step was to figure out how many oats to include as the type and quantity impacts the texture of the cookie. I tested the same dough but used rolled oats in one batch and half rolled oats, half quick oats in the other.

Both doughs are equally delicious.

The two batches look the same...

The winner was the batch with half quick oats, half rolled oats. The mix yielded a softer cookie which was what I was going for.

I filled them with a rich brown sugar buttercream. The cookies hardly made it through the photo