Thick Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My standard breakfast has become oatmeal with raisins and sliced almonds, so I knew I would love these cookies that popped up on Smitten Kitchen in addition to having all the ingredients in my pantry. While my dad loves oatmeal chocolate chip pecan cookies, I'm a big fan of oatmeal raisin cookies. I was baking a cake for a bake sale benefiting Second Harvest Nashville, and when it didn't turn out well, I was a little distraught. I knew I barely had time to make something else, let alone run to the store, when I remembered these cookies.

Sure enough, they turned out wonderfully, and I even kept about a dozen for our own personal consumption. You may remember that I made oatmeal raisin cookies before. These are much better. They're crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. There are plenty of raisins too, and the chilling step makes a big difference. I only had them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, but they turned out beautifully! This will be my go-to recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies from now on. You can also halve the recipe if you don't want so many cookies laying around.

Thick and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
source: Smitten Kitchen
Yields 4-5 dozen tsp sized cookies

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

Preparation

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.

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.