Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 239.

Taking advantage of a snow day to do a long overdue post! Oatmeal raisin cookies are a favorite at our house - our go-to recipe is the one on the Quaker Oats box. I came across this recipe from Maida and thought I would give it a try. It turns out that it is a bit different from the Quaker Oats recipe. There is no flour in this one and it contains peanut butter. They are delicious but quite different from the other. 

These cookies are very soft, chewy and wonderful. I used a large ice-cream scoop to make the cookies and they turned out really big. A few of them ran together during the baking process but they are easy to cut apart as soon as they come out of the oven. 

The only raisins I had in the pantry were golden raisins and I used those. I think golden raisins have a fainter flavor than the dark ones but they are fine here. I used light corn syrup and I omitted the mace. I have used it before as she calls for it often in her recipes but Michael tells me that it has an odd flavor. 

There are two variations to this recipe and I think they would both be excellent. One is Chocolate Chunk by adding semi-sweet chocolate and the other is Peanut Raisin Oatmeal Cookies which has peanuts added. 

2 cups raisins
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp dark or light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp baking soda
scant 1/2 tsp. mace (I omitted this)
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two large cookie sheets with foil.

Steam the raisins for about 10 minutes using a vegetable steamer or a double-boiler with a slotted pan.

Beat the butter until smooth. Add the peanut butter and mix well. Beat in the vanilla, corn syrup, both sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the baking soda. Mix well. On low speed, add the oats. Stir in the raisins.

Use a large ice-cream scoop or small measuring cup to scoop the mixture and shape the cookies. After depositing onto the cookie sheet, push them together with your fingers if needed (the mixture stays together well) and slightly push them down with a large spoon to slightly flatten. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart. I was able to put 8 cookies on each sheet.

Bake for 15-17 minutes. You can do two sheets at a time, just reverse the pans halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let them sit for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack with a large spatula. The cookies will be soft but they will firm up while cooling. They are delicious right out of the oven. After cooling, store them in an airtight container.