Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies--butter, eggs, white sugar, AND brown sugar. The bane of my existence. I was unable to resist their presence at the dining halls. They'd be sitting in trays in mass quantities, just begging to be eaten. I'd hide cookies in napkins to take back to the dorm, even after stuffing my face with a couple cookies after each lunch and dinner.

Long story short, 3 years and 25 pounds later combined with my family's subtle hints about my growing waistline were wake up calls that I needed to harness this cookie addiction.

The baking bug bit me last night at 4AM and oatmeal cookies were the only option. I'd deprived myself of these cookies for a long time and being back from Spring Break has meant that the healthy diet and self control has gone straight through the window.



A classic and simple recipe that should be part of every baker's repertoire, yet I still managed to mess up. I halved the recipe, but I'm not sure if that mattered too much because the proportions were still the same. I think the fatal error occurred when my impatience caused me to microwave the butter for too long and I ended up with liquid-y, not "softened" like the recipe called for. Next time I'll be more careful. The resulting cookies were chewy and had good flavor but were dangerously close to crossing into rubbery territory.



Fortunately, being at school means that I have access to a wide consumer base that I can distribute the cookies to even if they weren't my proudest creation. Sure, this may not help my reputation as a baker but you need to understand the mindset of the majority of people my age: Free food? Beggars can't be choosers!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Recipe from Quaker Oats lid

1/2 pound (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups oats(quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Servings: ABOUT 4 DOZEN

Sugar Cookies

Okay, so it's not exactly winter break and these photos are from 2006, but I've been eager to make a baking post. I scoured my hard drive for pictures of food I made that weren't a complete disaster and this is all I got. Just a heads up: my decorating skills weren't any good a year ago, nor are they any better today.

It's become a tradition for my mom and I to bake sugar cookies during winter break over the past few years. We've used a recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens binder we bought at Costco.

We're always excited when we start, but that feeling quickly wanes after the first couple batches when we're faced with a giant ball of dough that requires more iterations of cutting and decorating. You think we would have learned to halve the recipe by now.

Yeah, yeah, it was a motley assortment of cookies, but I was too lazy to find the winter-themed cookie cutters and resorted to mixing the snowmen with tulips and rabbits.

Making green and orange icing seemed like a good idea at the time, but it probably wasn't the most appetizing color combination.

Despite their hideous appearance pictured above, they do go quickly when we have guests over. They are light and sweet, and not on the chewy side. My parents prefer them on the crispy side (not ideal for decorating) so I usually leave them in there for a couple minutes longer than the recipe calls for. I don't recommend these if you want an obnoxiously heavy cookie, such as a jumbo chocolate chip, as they are a simple, reliable standby.

I think this is the recipe (at least it seems close enough), I don't have the book at school with me but this is what resulted from my expert Google skills:

Sugar Cookies, from Better Homes and Gardens
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours or until easy to handle.

2. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll each half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Cut dough with a floured 3-1/2-inch cookie cutter in your preferred shape. Place cutouts 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake in preheated oven about 8 minutes or until edges are set. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool. If desired, spread with icing made from powdered sugar. Let stand until slightly set; pipe icing in decorative designs over iced cookies. Let stand until icing is set. Makes 36 cookies.