Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I posted on my health blog about how the moral at my school has been low and I thought everyone could use a pick-me-up. I went a little nuts that night and baked hundreds of cookies. One new variety I tried out was oatmeal raisin. It's not my favorite type, at all, but I know it's a pretty popular cookie, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

These cookies came together quickly and baked up nicely. I really enjoyed how they held their shape and didn't flatten out- that's one of my pet peeves with cookies. I like them thick and dense- yummmmm. I really enjoyed the flavor of these cookies, which is saying something since I'm not big on oatmeal raisin. By the way, I made between 200-300 cookies (closer to the 300 range) and they were all gone in under 2 hours, by 10:30 in the morning actually... so do the math, they were good!

Source: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slighly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.