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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Just Like Gramma’s!)
Growing up, my grandmother always made oatmeal raisin cookies. They were my favorite treat, and when I made these they tasted just like hers and it was the best feeling ever. Like being a kid again. These stay soft and chewy for days if you bake them correctly, and they definitely are not an “old lady cookie” as some might think. If you’re a fan of oatmeal or raisins, then these are probably some of the best cookies you will ever eat. This recipe does call for Crisco (shortening). I’ve never substituted in the butter for it- which a lot of people do. I’m not sure what difference it would make, so I would suggest just following the recipe. When storing the cookies, to prevent them from getting hard, you can always place a piece of bread in the container. It will even make hard cookies soft. It works!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup crisco
- 1 stick softened butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 cups oatmeal
- 1 cup raisins
Directions
- Cream together the crisco, butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla
- Mix in the flour, salt, and baking soda
- Stir in the oatmeal until well combined. Then stir in the raisins.
- Chill the dough for at least one hour prior to baking.
- After chilling the dough, drop it by spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet (or onto a greased sheet). Make sure there is space for the cookies to spread.
- Bake at 350° for 11-13 minutes- until the cookies are just starting to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven before the whole cookie is brown. They’ll keep baking after you take them out of the oven, and over baking will result in brittle cookies instead of soft and chewy ones.
- Cool on wire racks before eating.
Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
I think the saddest part is that when talking about these muffins, all I could think of was Florian Bellanger from Cupcake Wars going “It has the conseestancy uf a moofeen.” Horrible phonetic variation- but I tried. Anywho- my muffins turned out pretty delicious. I had never made homemade muffins before. Cupcakes, sure. Cakes, sure. But muffins are different. Thicker. These were a great breakfast, though. I didn’t get quite enough cinnamon in these- I used 1 teaspoon (the recipe only called for a half a teaspoon) so I would add a little more.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4th teaspoon salt
- 1 beaten egg
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup cooking oil
- 1 tsp. cinnamon (I suggest using about 2 tsp. I felt this didn’t have enough cinnamon.)
- 1 cup raisins
- Cinnamon Sugar
Directions
- Grease 12 muffin cups
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Stir together the dry ingredients (except for raisins) in a medium mixing bowl.
- Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the milk, egg, and cooking oil.
- Stir until all of the flour is mixed in- do not over mix.
- Fold in the raisins.
- Fill the muffin cups about 1/2-2/3 full with batter. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before baking.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
The Baker's Laboratory 
