Recipe- Soft And Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These are pretty big cookies, I used 1/4 cup dough per cookie. You can make smaller or even bigger cookies depending on how you like them. I know everyone here is crazy for soft baked cookies so if you are also one of those, bake these for 11 minutes. But if you are someone like me, who likes their oatmeal cookies a little more well done, bake for 14-15 minutes at 350 F degrees. I actually baked half cookies for 11 minutes and the remaining for 14 minutes. The later gets my vote but it’s totally a personal preference!

Chilling the dough is mandatory to make sure that the cookies don’t spread much while baking. I chilled the dough for 2 hours, you can chill overnight or more but 2 hours is minimum. Rather than chilling the dough, it’s easier to make balls first and then chill the cookie dough balls. When we chill the dough for more than 2-3 hours, it becomes quite hard. You then have to wait for a considerable amount of time before it becomes soft enough to roll into cookie balls. So it’s better to make the cookie balls first and then chill the dough.

The recipe has a higher ratio of brown to granulated sugar, which helps in keeping the cookies soft and moist. Not only does brown sugar keeps the cookies soft [as it’s hygroscopic and absorbs moisture from air) but also imparts it’s distinctive flavor. The flavor of brown sugar is quite pronounced in these oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredients

1.5 cups rolled oats [old fashioned] not instant or quick oats
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ cup butter unsalted, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated white sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 egg at room temperature
½ cup raisins more to press on top
½ cup pecans or walnuts chopped

Method

* In a bowl whisk together rolled oats, all purpose flour, salt, cinnamon powder and baking soda. Set aside.

* In the steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using your stand mixer beat together butter and both the sugars, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula till creamy and smooth, around 3 minutes.

* Add the vanilla extract, egg and mix.

* Now add the oats-flour fix in parts, mixing well after each addition.

* Stir in raisins and chopped pecans/walnuts.

* Take 1/4 cup of the dough per cookie. Make 11-12 large cookie balls and place them on a baking sheet. Press few raisins on top of each cookie ball [optional]

* Place the baking sheet with the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for minimum of 2 hours, or overnight. Chilling the dough is mandatory.

* Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

* Bake the chilled cookie dough balls for 14-15 minutes [personal preference] or for 11 minutes for softer cookies.

* Let the cookies cool down in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.