Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

What's better than homemade oatmeal raisin cookies when you've got the munchies? Probably nothing...except maybe the fact that they're not difficult to make, and also have a guaranteed deliciousness that will make you come back to this recipe over and over!

 

Family: Cookie
Snackage Level : Munchie
Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5
Time: Approx. 60 minutes
Amount: Makes around 5 doz. cookies

1 cup shortening

1-1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk*

1-3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

1/2 cup raisins

*For powdered buttermilk, the ratio of water to powder is usually given on the canister. 1/2 cup of buttermilk is usually the equivalent of 2 tablespoons of powdered buttermilk mixed in 1/2 cup of water.

DIRECTIONS

Oven 400°

1. Cream together shortening, brown sugar, and eggs. (For those who don't know what "cream" means -- just mix it thoroughly until the mixture is smooth.) Use an electric mixer for an even consistency. When it is light and fluffy, stir in the buttermilk.

2. In a separate bowl, sift together your dry ingredients -- this would be the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Once they are evenly mixed, stir it into the creamed mixture.

3. Stir in rolled oats and raisins. Note -- though the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of raisins, the amount you put in should depend on your preference. If you like to have more raisins than oatmeal, you should add another 1/2 cup. When you mix all this together, make sure that the raisins are evenly distributed; if they get clumped in one corner, you might end up with half of your cookies with a lot of raisins, and the other half without any at all!

4. Use a tablespoon to measure out dobs of dough onto a greased pan or cookie sheet. Try not to make them too big, otherwise they'll cook quickly on the outside and not at all on the inside (on the other hand, making them too small will make them cook absurdly fast and probably burn).

5. Bake at 400° for about 8 minutes. They bake pretty quickly, so keep an eye on them in the last couple minutes -- it only takes a couple seconds for them to go from "almost done" to "burnt to a crisp"!

6. Let them cool for about a minute before moving them to another surface, otherwise they will tear apart. Note -- make sure they have sufficiently cooled before stacking them on top of each other, otherwise you'll end up with an oatmeal raisin ball instead of cookies! :)

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book: Souvenir Edition