Name: The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 37 min
Yield: 24 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup raisins; 1 cup boiling water; 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats; 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg; 3/4 tsp kosher salt; 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened; 1 cup light brown sugar, packed; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs; 2 tsp vanilla extract

The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Prep

25m

Cook

12m

Total

37m

Bigly says

Let me tell you something. Oatmeal raisin cookies. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Bigly, oatmeal raisin? Really? That's the cookie everyone is DISAPPOINTED to get when they were expecting chocolate chip.' And I hear you. I hear you. That has been the narrative for DECADES. A smear campaign against the oatmeal raisin cookie. A total injustice. Big Chocolate Chip has been running a propaganda operation against the oatmeal raisin for years and nobody — NOBODY — has had the courage to stand up and say what needs to be said: the oatmeal raisin cookie, done correctly, is the GREATEST cookie of all time. Period. End of discussion. It's a slaughter.

The problem is that 99% of oatmeal raisin cookies are TERRIBLE. They're dry. They're flavorless. The raisins are like little leather BB pellets. The oats are bland. The whole thing tastes like cardboard breakfast. Tragic. People have one bad oatmeal raisin cookie at the office holiday party — and offices are still doing holiday parties? in this economy? — and they spend the rest of their lives bad-mouthing the cookie. Not the BAKER. The cookie. As if the cookie hurt them personally. That's not fair to the cookie. The cookie didn't do anything wrong. The baker did. The baker is the villain here.

Mine? Mine are PLUMP. Mine are CHEWY. The raisins are soaked in hot water until they swell up like little brown grapes ready to BURST in your mouth — and yes, you soak the raisins, this is the move — and the oats are TOASTED first, which deepens the flavor in a way that will change your understanding of what an oat can BE. Food chemists agree. I had a guy with a PhD explain this to me once — took him ninety minutes, talked about Maillard reactions and aroma compounds and the chemistry of toasted starch, smartest guy in the room, the smartest — and the takeaway was: untoasted oats are sleeping, toasted oats are AWAKE. That's the whole game. People come up to me at the grocery store, in the oats aisle, they say 'Bigly, what is this oat thing you're doing?' I tell them. Free of charge. Take my word for it.

Ingredients

1 cupraisins(soak them, don't be a coward)
1 cupboiling water
2 cupsold-fashioned rolled oats(rolled, not quick, never quick)
1 1/4 cupsall-purpose flour
1 tspbaking soda
1 1/2 tspground cinnamon
1/4 tspground nutmeg
3/4 tspkosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks)unsalted butter, softened
1 cuplight brown sugar, packed
1/2 cupgranulated sugar
2large eggs
2 tspvanilla extract

Steps

1
Place the raisins in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let soak 10 minutes, then drain thoroughly and pat lightly with a paper towel.
2
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread the oats on a dry baking sheet and toast 6-8 minutes, stirring once, until fragrant and lightly golden. Cool completely.
3
Line two baking sheets with parchment.
4
Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
5
In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla.
7
Reduce mixer to low and add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined.
8
Stir in the toasted oats and drained raisins by hand with a spatula.
9
Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets. Press each ball lightly to flatten the top.
10
Bake 11-13 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the centers still look soft and slightly underdone.
11
Cool on the sheet 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

One more thing

That's the oatmeal raisin cookie. The real one. The one we should have been making all along. Bring these to the next office holiday party and watch the same people who've been complaining about oatmeal raisin for years take ONE bite and go silent. Real silence. The good kind. Then they'll ask for the recipe. Send them here. We've got room. And there you have it.