Start to finish: 40 minutes, not including optional refrigeration time
Makes 16 to 18 cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raisins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (postpone this step if you are planning to refrigerate your dough for a couple of days).
Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium-size bowl.
Blend the butter and both sugars together in a large bowl with a hand mixer (or standing mixer), until well blended. Beat in the egg, and then the vanilla. Add the flour mixture gradually, mixing on low speed until each batch is incorporated. Mix in the oats and raisins.
Use a ¼-cup measuring cup (or ice cream scoop) to measure out balls of the dough, which should be placed on an ungreased cookie sheet with at least 3 inches between each ball (bake only six cookies per classic-size cookie sheet). Use your hand to flatten each ball. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two days, or longer if you like. (You can layer the flattened disks of dough two deep in a container, with parchment or wax paper in between the layers, to save fridge space).
Bake the cookies for about 11 to 15 minutes (see important Note below!), until they are golden brown but still have nice give in the middle. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Note: If your cookie dough is at room temperature, start checking the cookies at 11 minutes. They tend to go from almost done to definitely done very quickly. The longer baking time is for dough that’s straight from the fridge. I’m still playing around with this, but baking them from room temperature does seem the most successful in terms of texture and consistency. Having said that, the few that got a bit crispier were UN-believable crumbled over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition information per serving: 253 calories; 99 calories from fat; 11 g fat (7 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 39 mg cholesterol; 188 mg sodium; 36 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 22 g sugar; 3 g protein.
Katie Workman, Associated Press
