Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
The trick to getting a really thick, chewy cookie is to chill the dough before you bake it. You can scoop it and then chill it, or, scoop it, freeze them and store them in a freezer bag so you can bake them as you wish. I find they’re always thicker when baked from the cold — only a couple extra minutes baking is needed.
This makes about 36 small cookies
½ cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter, softened
⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 ½ cups (120 grams) rolled oats
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
¼ shredded unsweetened coconut (Bob’s Red Mill Organic my favorite)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, then add egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them (I use my hands at this point. It gets pretty thick.)
At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge (I use the freezer for about 15 minutes) and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them.
The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined or silicone baking sheet. They don’t spread much if you chill dough. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.