These past few weeks, I have found myself craving oatmeal raisin cookies.  It must be a signal that my body wants to go into hibernation mode and stock up on hearty foods (I said hearty, not necessarily healthy! 😉 ) It is a common site for my 3pm coffee break to see me happily eating an oatmeal raisin cookie with my delicious concoction of half coffee/half hot chocolate with double milk.

I wanted to attempt to make my own oatmeal cookie, but I was torn.  Do I add in raisins or chocolate chips? (Both are equally awesome)  Do I make up two batches, or do I dare mix the two together.  Then a brilliant idea struck me.  Why don’t I make oatmeal cookies with chocolate covered raisins?!?  Totally the best of both worlds, and I don’t have to decide (decisiveness is not one of my strongest attributes).

I found this oatmeal cookie recipe from Martha Stewart.  I recently had purged a huge portion of my cooking *magazines (don’t worry, I kept all my America’s Test Kitchen), but while I was going through them, I discovered that I have a vast amount of magazines that specialize in cookies and bars.  Who knew that there could be so many variations!  So between purging magazines and dreamily looking at glossy pages filled with cookie perfection, I put a sticky note on this recipe as a must try.

*To give you an idea of how many magazine I have and how long I keep them, this recipe is from a magazine published in 2001, there are ads for drop and load 35mm Kodak cameras! 🙂

Of course, this recipe didn’t call for chocolate covered raisins as the add in, it originally called for cranberries, but I figured, it would provide a good base, and besides, Martha has never let me down when it comes to baking cookies!

I gathered up all the ingredients, turned on the oven to pre-heat and starting mixing everything together.  Then I saw it, my baking arch-enemy, refrigerate! – D’oh!  How many times do I get to the cookie making stage and I have to stop, put the dough in the fridge and patiently wait to continue baking?  I think my New Year’s Resolution should include reading recipes all the way through before starting to cook.

Fast forward 2 hours.  The oven is pre-heated and I am scooping out cookie dough onto my pans.  This cookie dough is pretty tasty.  What I find so comical about these cookies, is the chocolate covered raisins are huge!  They are basically falling out of the cookies!  I love it!

A little side-bar here – I recently bought a cookie scoop (basically an ice cream scoop, but for cookie dough).  This is amazing!  Each and every cookie is the exact same size and shape.  If you don’t already have one, I highly recommend it.  It would make a great stocking stuffer for your favourite cookie baker.

When these cookies were finally done, the sampling confirmed my suspicions, Oatmeal Chocolate Covered Raisin cookies are a wonderful discovery.

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Adapted from:
Martha Stewart – Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp almond milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup butter – room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 cups quick oats
• 2 cups chocolate covered raisins

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk together the vanilla, almond milk and eggs.  Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) combine the butter with both sugars, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low, gradually add milk mixture and beat well.  Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Remove bowl from the stand mixer and stir in oats and chocolate covered raisins.
3. Place dough in the refrigerator until firm, at least two hours or overnight!
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Shape two tablespoons of dough into a ball; place on baking sheet.  Place cookies three inches apart.  Press cookie dough with the bottom of a glass to flatten dough into two-inch diameter rounds.
5. Bake until golden but still soft in the centre (about 16 minutes).  Be sure to rotate your pan halfway through to ensure an even bake.
6. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
7. Share, Eat, Enjoy!