Nostalgic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies remind me of my grandmother. We call her Ousie (a nickname I coined as a toddler, because I couldn’t pronounce Alice Louise). This isn’t her recipe, doesn’t even come close, but it’ll do for now until I can dig out the recipe my mom has stashed away at home. Still, there’s something about the combination of oats and raisins, cinnamon and dark brown sugar that even in this recipe feels both nostalgic and comforting, old-fashioned but always sweet and warm, just the way a grandmother’s recipe should be.

I make oatmeal raisin cookies when I feel like someone needs a little bit of warmth and comfort in their lives. This time, they were for Zach’s dad, who lost one of his fishing partners and best friend this past week. He’s going on a fishing trip tomorrow, so I hope they cheer him up a little bit around lunch time, even though he won’t have his buddy there with him.

Old-fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon 
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. unsalted butter
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
½ c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
½ c. old-fashioned rolled oats
2 c. raisins

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two baking sheets or line with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, line your baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray it with Baker's Joy cooking spray. Makes clean-up SO EASY! I hate having to wash pans, so I'm all about the aluminum foil.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. I wasn't paying attention and accidentally doubled the recipe.Since I doubled the recipe, I didn't have enough raisins, but the recipe turned out good anyways. The more raisins the better, in my opinion.  I also used 1 tsp. of cinnamon instead of 1 tbsp. More cinnamon here is better. My cookies didn't have as much of that cinnamon-y warmth and spice as I thought they needed.

 

3. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed. Add eggs and vanilla and beat on low until well-blended.

4. Add dry ingredients and rolled oats and stir until just incorporated. Mix in the raisins. If you're like me, sample the dough "to make sure it's good."

5. Drop by heaping tablespoons spaced 3 in. apart onto the baking sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cookies are done when they are evenly light brown and firm when lightly touched.

6. Let the cookies cool for approximately 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Make sure you sample a cookie. I recommend baking them mid-morning and having one with a second cup of coffee like I did. Grumpy puppies will beg for treats while you are doing this, but you know what they say, "if you give a mouse a cookie, he's gonna want some milk," so you might as well not even go down that road.