Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies: Back To School Post #3

Back to school recipes still comin’ atchya!  Like many of you, lunches and snacks and make-ahead meals are on my brain. So here is another one to pin, tweet, bookmark, copy, or bake  that can help with some of that!

This post comes to you via Marriott hotel complimentary internet service in Indiana!  The hubs and munchkins and I are taking a much needed last minute vaca; sneaking it in just before my daughter starts second grade on Tuesday.  Currently, it is late and my kiddos are still avoiding sleep on the hide-a-bed across the hotel room so I am hoping the clicking sound of my laptop as I type this lulls them to sleep.  Fingers crossed.

Phew!  So finally!!  I’m done!  After 12 (no exaggeration) batches of cookies, I have finally settled on the final version!  A nice, even dozen attempts.  Seriously.  Ask my friends and neighbors.  I was so desperate for opinions that one day I had taken to leaving labeled bags of cookies in their mailboxes.  If I had any inclination that it would take me so many batches-spread out over a month and a half-just to finalize this recipe, I probably would have skipped it in leu of something less labor intensive.  But anything worth doing is worth doing right, right?  Right!

Somewhere around version eight, I started to lose momentum and…well…get kinda sick of oatmeal cookies.  (Months from now I will probably read that line and chastise my former self, scolding ‘What?  For shame!  How could you ever be sick of oatmeal cookies!  They are your favorite!  Suck it up, you pansy!’)  I had sent hundreds of them along with my husband to work, frozen hundreds more, and ate-er, um-a few.  In the end, I scrapped everything I was making and started over with a pencil and paper and just created my own.  Admittedly, the very thing I should have done in the first place.  Then it was just a matter of working out the kinks.

These are not, I should tell you, a healthy oatmeal raisin cookie.  Healthy was before with the zucchini muffins and will be again later when we talk homemade hummus.  No, these are just easy and good.  They have no fancy ingredients and no extra steps.  You will not be making browned butter or sprinkling the hot cookies with gourmet salt in the last 2 minutes of baking.  These are just straight up, hearty, oatmeal-y and raisin-y.  They have been made a dozen different ways (Ha! Literally!) and every ingredient has been adjusted at least once.  Right down to the amount of nutmeg. This recipe is now the only plain oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I will ever use.  I promise.  Cross my heart and spit on the floor.  Its the best that I can do.  It has earned a spot here in my back to school series because it is as classic as can be, tucked into a lunchbox or waiting on the table with a glass of cold milk when the cherubs burst through the door after school.  Here’s hoping the all the oatmeal will hold them off till dinner.

And look at that!  My kids are asleep!  Well, what do ya know….
Two Years Ago: Keebler Cracker Bars & Cocoa Cake

Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 c (2 sticks) softened butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 c rolled oats-not quick cooking
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 c raisins
3/4 c chopped walnuts

In the large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars.  Beat until smooth with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine.  Add the salt and spices and mix.  Add the oats, flour, and baking soda and mix slowly, just until combined.  Slowly stir in the raisins and walnuts.  Drop dough by measured scoop or rounded teaspoonfuls onto a lined cookie sheet.  Press gently with flat fingers to make little hockey pucks and bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool for a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.  Enjoy within 3 days or freeze, tightly sealed for up to 6 months.