Good For You Oatmeal Cookies

Seems like I’m always on a diet.  Not because I’m fat, it’s just that I don’t want to get fat.  Even as a kid I watched my weight; which was odd because in high school I weighed 135 lbs and average height.  That’s not the case anymore but I’m still not fat. 

I attribute it to my lack of cravings for sweets.  I’ve never cared much for cakes, brownies and pies, although I can do some major damage to a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, but I don’t allow it in the house just so I’m not tempted. I’m just a savory kind of guy.

Also, I don’t bake.  Since baking is a thing of exact measurements, I’m not interested.  Other than baking I’m a really good cook, but if someone put the ingredients for a cake in front of me and said ‘make a cake’, I’d probably end up with a nasty sweet pizza dough thing. 

However, when the need for homemade sweetness does raise its ugly fathead in my house, C comes to the rescue.  He can bake.  Of course when he’s finished there’s flour all over the kitchen, but the end product is on spot. 

Since I’ve sworn off of breads and starches for the moment, he hasn’t had the Kitchen Aid cranking, but the other day he decided that he had to have something sweet and he knew the only way he was going to get it was if he made it. 

He knows I wouldn’t eat most sweet things, but he claims these oatmeal cookies are good for me and they’re not insanely sweet, so I have to admit, I'll toss back a few!  The recipe is a little from Martha Stewart and a little from Ina Gartan, neither of which he was perfectly happy with.  He's made these so many times and nuanced the recipes to get it just the way he likes it.  They are good!  And, they look easy enough to make, but what do I know.  I don't bake!

Use this:

3 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (use the really good stuff)

1 ½ cups raisin

1 cup chopped walnuts

Now do this:

Stir together oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

Put butter and sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. 

Mix on medium until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Mix in eggs and vanilla and reduce speed to low.

Add oat mixture and mix until just combined. 

Mix in raisins.

Next (and don’t skip this step)

Cover the cookie dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or longer.

This will harden up the butter which will help the cookies to not spread during baking thus keeping them thick.  And nobody wants a thin wimpy cookie…

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.

Using a 1 ½ inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Flatten slightly. (Use sheets lined with parchment paper or better yet Silpat non-stick baking mats).

Bake until golden and just set, around 14 minutes.

Let cool on baking sheets 5 minutes.  Then transfer cookies to cooling racks. Let cool completely before storing.