Thursday, October 04, 2012

Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies (with chocolate)

Well, hello there, dear friends! Last night's debate gave me hives. Today is my birthday. And while oatmeal cookies might not seem super-festive, trust me: they are good. Maybe not birthday good. But chewy, delicious, and packed with wildly wholesome ingredients that add to, rather than diminish, their decadence (I promise there's nothing dusty or powdery about them).

Also, don't you love that I'm posting what might literally be my first-ever public recipe with raisins in it, even though I'm not actually the Raisin Ambassador? What is wrong with me? Besides the pathological compulsion to be a good kid, I mean. Maybe nothing.
Craney celebrates people in his own unique way.

But back to my birthday for a second: I could not help noticing this in my Google browsing history today: "origami scallop." 

That's a sure sign that Ben has been working on a card for me. But when I looked at the images, I could see that he must have been sorely disappointed: it was all ruffle-edged scallop shells--when I'm certain that what he was searching for was something more along the lines of what you'd get, fried, in a scallop roll. I can't wait to see what he came up with. Mum's the word, on the snooping.

Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies (with chocolate)
Makes 3 cookie-sheets' worth 


These are adapted from Smitten, who herself adapted them from the Quaker canister. The coconut oil is my addition: it makes the cookies that much chewier and just slightly fragrant, in a way that we all love, plus it's wicked healthy. I'm going to try them with all coconut oil next time, but feel free to use all butter, as per the original recipe. The spelt is me too, natch. As, um, are the chocolate chips. I make these pretty small for lunchbox treats, but you could biggen them up a little--just increase the cooking time to compensate.

¼ cup butter, softened

¼ cup coconut oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup spelt flour 
or a mix of spelt and whole-wheat (or, sigh, white flour)
½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups rolled oats

¾ cup raisins

¾ cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup pecan (or walnut) pieces, toasted @ 350 for 4 minutes

Heat the oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, coconut oil and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla, and mix until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins, chocolate chips, and pecans.

Space cookies two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet (I use my handy spring-loaded cookie scoop). Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. (Try not to overbake them, or you will lose the chew, and then what's the point, really?) Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

43 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:32 PM

    Happy Birthday!

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  2. Happy birthday!!! Have some nice unfrosted cake?

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  3. Happy birthday and hope it's that old Gourmet recipe - the 8 x 8 buttermilk cake with caramel on top...

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  4. Happy, Happy Birthday, Catherine!!

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  5. Ugh! Hives, indeed.

    Happy bday!

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  6. Happiest of birthdays, and may all your (non-origami) scallops be perfectly fried!

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  7. Perfect! I got a huge bag of oats to kill! Psyched about the coconut oil. Have the happiest birthday, blogger-mom extraordinaire.

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  8. Happy birthday! I didn't realize/remember (been reading FOREVER) today was your day, too! My beloved older sister (who is my BFF) and my only (bio) child (a boy-he's 4 today) share your day!! It's a REALLY good day to have a birthday! Sadly, I'm working full time and a graduate student so I have no time for baking but these look yummy!

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  9. Anonymous3:03 PM

    Happy Birthday!

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  10. Robin3:23 PM

    Happy birthday! And now I want a cookie.

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  11. happy birthday, dear Catherine! The debate gave me nightmares... But thanks for the recipe; I'll try it after parent/teacher conference tonight :-)

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  12. Anonymous3:49 PM

    Happy Birthday - I hope it involves some relaxation and some fun!
    These cookies are ridiculously good (I am a fellow Smitten Kitchen fan). We made them with dried cherries and chocolate chips for our big thank you cookie bake - quadruple recipe!- we had a lot of people to thank! I can't remember if I did a bit of almond extract along with the vanilla (because of the cherry) - it doesn't really matter. Best. Oatmeal. Cookie. Ever.

    I also think they'd be great with almonds and dried blueberries (or almond and dried cherry).

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  13. dale in denver5:05 PM

    ^ or white chocolate and craisins.

    Happy Bday, Catherine!

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  14. Paula5:28 PM

    Happy birthday Catherine! Enjoy!

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  15. Hoping that cat is a good antidote to debate-induced hives!
    Happy birthday to my favorite blogger!

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  16. Happy Birthday Catherine!!!

    My secret oatmeal cookie trick is to use the flax seed egg-replacer (1 tbsp ground flax seed plus 3 tbsp warm water = 1 egg). you can then use less fat and they still come out so chewy delicious!

    And, when you were a kid, did you ever get a kick out of writing down the date 10/4? You know, because of 10-4 good buddy? No? Oh.... well, when I realized that today was your birthday and that the date was 10/4, it brought a little smile to my face!!

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  17. Came here to remind myself of the granola recipe details again (tho surely I know it by now?! The dozenth time this month?!?) and instead find competition for my oats! And that it's your birthday! Hope it's a lovely lovely lovely one, and I'm off to count cups of oats.

    And the debate - oh my shuddering heavens, just...ugh.

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  18. Jessica6:29 PM

    Happy, happy birthday, Catherine! I just bought some coconut oil. I'm looking forward to trying it in these cookies. Yum!

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  19. Shannon H.7:38 PM

    Happy Happy Birthday!!!

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  20. Happy birthday to you! I hope you had a great day. (And absolutely hiveworthy. I swear it made me narcoleptic from uneasiness.) But enough unpleasantness on a birthday and hooray for another year of YOU! (Also: Nikki's healthy cookies, here: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html are yummier than you'd imagine, and they make better bars than drop cookies in my experience.)

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  21. Happy Birthday, Catherine! I've been reading everything you write and following for years and years and have never once commented. I really don't know why. But, since today is your birthday and oatmeal cookies are my most favorite I'm coming out of my weird lurking closet today. I feel so much better. Hope it's been a happy day!

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  22. Happy Happy Birthday!!!

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  23. Happy Birthday!!! My baby is four weeks old today. You're practically birthday buddies. Hehe.
    I will have to try these sometime. I made pumpkin muffins earlier and am planning some apple crisp tomorrow. Yay October!

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  24. Happy, happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you had a fabulous day!

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  25. Oh, happy happy day to you! I hope you felt special today and had cake AND these cookies. :)

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  26. Best wishes for a happy birthday and many more until 120. I will try to give you wonderful election results as a belated gift.

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  27. Looks absolutely delicious! I reckon I could eat about 100 of them in one go.

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  28. Happiest of birthdays to you! I've been reading your work for ages, and it always gives me a lift. Thanks for the great recipes, too.

    I must admit that these oatmeal cookies don't appeal to me as much as the Perfect Oatmeal Cookies you posted some time ago (lacy, chewy, butter-based heaven).

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  29. Sorry I'm late, but Happy Birthday! I hope you had an amazing day. :)

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to special you! I was just recommending your birthday cake to a friend the other day.

    Love the cookies, but will completely leave out the very thought of raisins. I'd suck as the Raisin Ambassador because I would be trying to convince people of their general disgusting-ness. Good choice!

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  32. Amy H3:46 PM

    Happy belated birthday. Have always loved your blog and your recipes!

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  33. Anonymous4:32 PM

    Happy birthday! The cookies look delicious. Hope to see how the card turned out soon.

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  34. Jamie5:24 PM

    Happy Birthday to you! My (and my son's) birthday is just a day before yours! I hope you had a great one. Those cookies look good and oatmeal cookies are my favorite, thanks!

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  35. This is a delicious Oatmeal cookie! The only modification I made (besides leaving out dried fruit because my husband doesn't like it, which I find just so strange and annoying that I have been known to make batches with cranberries/raisins anyhow just to taunt him) is one worth noting. I stole the trick of adding 1 tsp of cider vinegar along with the vanilla from my usual recipe, one modified to my liking from the King Arthur baking site. It adds a certain je ne sais quoi, flavor and texture-wise. Makes sense as the only leavening is baking soda, right? Try it some time! Anyhow the coconut oil is just fab here. I am in love with coconut oil, which I just discovered .... I've been putting it in granola (YUM!), using it to grease our pancake griddle (I find the aroma just insanely good), and for popcorn. Now for cookies! Yay! Thank you!

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  36. alison12:15 PM

    Craney is the most beautiful cat...Is he a specific breed? Oh btw Happy birthday and why were you checking your browser history? It almost seems that you were trying to find out what you were getting for your bday. ;-)

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  37. alison12:17 PM

    Craney is the most beautiful cat...Is he a specific breed? Oh btw Happy birthday and why were you checking your browser history? It almost seems that you were trying to find out what you were getting for your bday. ;-)

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  38. Belated happy birthday!!

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  39. Cheryl1:01 AM

    Happy Birthday! These cookies look delicious. I think I have to try them. I too am curious about the card. And on a random side note, (unrelated to the origami scallop I swear - but funny coincidence), I just picked up the sequel to The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda. I'm a little behind the times because I no longer teach Reading, in favor of Science and the excitement of labs. Didn't know if Ben had picked up Darth Paper or the third one, Fortune Wookie, but I remembered that he liked the first.

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  40. Yeah for Catherine! I just got this month's isuue of Real Simple...what a nice surprise to find a column written by you! I really enjoyed it, too!

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  41. I love your cat pictures, Craney is scrumptious looking and I feel like I could reach out and touch him. I hope you had a fabulous birthday! I love your buttermilk pancake recipie, from long ago and also your corn chowder, that is the best soup I've ever made. Hope you have a great weekend!

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  42. Anonymous4:40 PM

    Catherine, I have been reading your blogs for years and I love you and love your recipes! I recently had to go gluten and dairy free and was mourning a bit that I couldn't enjoy your oatmeal cookies... Then I thought, what the heck, I bet I can adapt them. And lo and behold, a delicious, dairy and gluten free version of your cookie was born. They turned out crispy rather than chewy, but they were sublime. My next experiment will be to figure out how to make them chewy. Thanks for your wonderful recipes and thanks for sharing your life and family with your readers!

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  43. I made these cookies tonight (I have been saving this recipe since emailing it to myself the week it was posted). These are DELICIOUS. Thanks!!

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