Oatmeal cookies

I like oatmeal, but I'm not so much of an oatmeal-cookie-lover. I think most of it has to do with the fact that I think the raisin + oatmeal combination in cookie form is offensive. Throw some chocolate chips in there though, and it's all good.  I recently found out that my husband is a big fan of oatmeal raisin cookies and I thought that was so curious it made me want to experiment and try to make some from scratch to see if I could do any good in this department. Also, we both recently had probably the best oatmeal cookie we've ever had in - of all places - the family lounge of the NBA Wizard's team at Verizon Center, which also served as motivation. It is now a hazy dream and I can't remember if it had raisins in it or what the deal was exactly, but it was delicious.

So far, the oatmeal cookie saga has been pretty uneventful. I first tried smitten kitchen's recipe, but I must have done something wrong because they ended up tasting like scones. Your cookies should not taste like scones.  Then I decided to go super easy and low-brow and try the recipe on the backside of the Quaker Oats oatmeal cover, which is probably the easiest recipe ever. It turned out a little better, but they were still dry and after a few hours, they became even drier still. Undeterred, I put my game face on and did some readjusting by adding in some honey and making sure I took the cookies out on the early side of the recommended baking time. I think that makes a big difference, especially for oatmeal cookies, because they firm up over time. While they are an improvement from the first attempt, they were a still a far cry from the cookie perfection I am trying to reach, so let the experimenting continue.  For my next attempt, I am going to try using rolled oats and maybe substituting applesauce for half of the butter. I shall report back.




 

These are the batch I made with Quaker Oats. Since I am in experiment mode, I usually halve the recipe and then divide that by half again so that after the first attempt I can make adjustments. I also usually make half the batter with chocolate chips and the other half without, so that both my husband and my preferences are well-served.