It was many years ago this recipe was given to me by my best friend, Laurie. I remember batches of oatmeal cookies stored in the blue and white antique soup tureen on the pine sideboard in her Mom's dining room. They were irresistible then, and they're still irresistible today. Just this morning, (like 40 years later) I baked a few dozen for our after-school pizza fund-raiser. There was nary a crumb left for a sparrow to nibble on!
I love the hybrid texture of these cookies: they're simultaneously crunchy and chewy. For today's dough I used old-fashioned oats in lieu of quick oats and had excellent results. Another change I made is using golden sultanas instead of dark raisins. Other than that, the recipe maintains the excellent vintage of the original.
LAURIE'S RAISIN-OATMEAL COOKIES
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 t lemon juice
1 cup flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 cup oats
1 cup golden sultanas
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugars. Beat in the egg and lemon juice. On low speed, add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. When thoroughly blended, stir in the oats and sultanas. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, at least 1 inch apart. Bake for 8 minutes, then move the sheets from top to bottom and from left to right. Bake for another 7 minutes. Carefully remove cookies from sheets with a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool. Store in an air-tight container. Makes about 3 dozen.
*I have switched from greasing my baking sheets to using baker's parchment paper. The paper can be used over and over and your cookie sheets stay cleaner. In my experience, there even seems to be a lesser chance for cookies stubbornly sticking when you use parchment. I was first introduced to this method when I worked at a small, independent bakery on Sunset Boulevard, shortly after moving to California in 1974. However, I didn't adopt it until relatively recently. I don't know why it took me so long!
*A cute gift idea is to fill a plastic Ziploc bag with frozen unbaked cookie dough that has been portioned out. Then, put the bag in a decorative container (such as a tin, Chinese take-out box or gift bag) with baking instructions. This was given to me by a student for Christmas this year. His sweet mom said, "Everyone needs a freshly baked cookie every now and then." When the urge hits, take one or two balls of dough out of the freezer, pop them into the toaster oven and in a matter of minutes your fresh-baked treat is ready!
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