recipe review: oatmeal raisin cookies

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Smitten Kitchen's Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Review: So easy to make, so easy to store. Perfect for a last-minute event.

So I wrote about our new household love for steel cut oatmeal...this love left us with two bulk-sized bags of quick oats to use up. I figured oatmeal cookies would be perfect! I like my oatmeal cookies chewy and dense, but not too sweet. These fit the bill, and store wonderfully! Best of all, they are incredibly easy - two bowls and no electrics save for the oven.

Ingredients:
* 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
* 1 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed (I reduced this to just under 1 cup.)
* 2 eggs
* 1 t. vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I substituted whole-wheat flour.)
* 1 t. baking soda
* 1 t. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 t. salt (SK recs using a bit more salt in baked goods, which I agree with.)
* 3 cups rolled oats
* 1 1/2 cups raisins
* 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) In one bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. (No need for a hand mixer...I just used a regular whisk.)
3) In a second bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. (You could also just sift these together in a colander, which would also get rid of lumps.)
4) Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Once combined, stir in oats, raisins, and/or nuts.
5) (SK recs chilling the dough prior to baking, for thicker cookies). Drop by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I use a Silpat for cookies). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are darker at the edges. They should appear a bit undercooked. Let sit for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooking rack.


I made these for a football Saturday on which we had guests, so unfortunately I have no actual cookie pics (a testament to how yummy they are). This recipe makes a TON of cookies...so much dough that I filled two freezer bags with rolled tablespoons. To cook, just take out the frozen dough balls, gently flatten them a bit, and bake. This is great for us...we can easily make a small batch for guests, or just a few for dessert.