Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

In an effort to jump start my baking, I went to the bookstore yesterday and browsed through the baking section of the cookbooks. My goal was to find a book that I could bake from start to finish. Though tempted by the thick bibles of baking, like Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours or The King Arthur Flour Baking Companion, I decided to go with something more manageable: the Betty Crocker Cookie Book.

I know, I know. It sounds a little silly, but it's actually a really nice looking book, with glossy pages, easy to read text, and full-page color photos. The recipes are grounded in the traditional, starting with the basic oatmeal cookie, chocolate chip cookie, etc., before moving into slightly more adventurous territory with the likes of the "Frosted Cinnamon-Mocha Cookie" or the "Applesauce Granola Cookie."

A feature I always appreciate is the inclusion of nutritional information for each recipe. There's also a commitment to ingredients that can be found already in the cupboard or available at the average grocery store. That's important, since the plan is to bake each and every recipe in the book, in order. The first recipe: "The Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie."

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat your oven to 350F. Cream the brown sugar and butter, and then stir in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, oats, and raisins, and stir until blended. If you can find them, Sun-Maid makes special packs of baking raisins, which are extra moist and won't dry up your cookies. In the alternative, soak the raisins in a cup of warm water for a few minutes before adding them to the dough.

Using a cookie scoop to ensure the cookies have a uniform size (ensures uniform baking), place the dough on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes (9 for darker baking sheets, 11 for light ones), then cool on wire racks.

These cookies are extraordinarily soft, much more so than my normal oatmeal cookie recipe. I'm a big fan. Next up, "The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie."