New Recipe #2: Oatmeal cookies

Hurrah! A new recipe success! Following my dismal enchilada experience, I was cautiously optimistic that my foray into an untried baking recipe would raise my spirits, and I was not disappointed. The sweet combination of measuring and timing, an excuse to bust out my new nonstick baking mats and magnetic measuring spoons, and a yummy result all conspired to raise my self esteem. Thank goodness for you, baking.

(Later that night, I was further bolstered by a successful batch of fettucine alfredo, which demonstrated that I am not, in fact, hopeless at making a roux. Whew.)

I turned to my trusty America’s Test Kitchen cookbook for my first attempt at an oatmeal cookie, and the recipe came through in spades, that is, if spades are two dozen jumbo cookies. Even though the dough was unnervingly thick throughout the mixing — I feared for the motor in my mixer — I was pleased with the final texture of the cookie, which was crunchy around the edges, but still chewy on the inside.

Raisins are not welcome at our house, so I split the dough in half to make a version with semisweet chocolate chips and another version with dried cranberries and white chocolate. I also experimented between my usual method of dropping cookies from spoons and rolling balls of dough, as the recipe suggests. I imagined that my dropped chocolate chip cookies would be all craggy and interesting from the dips and waves of the dough, but they turned out to be depressingly flat. The rolled cranberry-white chocolate cookies emerged much more nicely-shaped, so my motto has been confirmed: follow the recipe at least once before fouling it up with any wayward modifications.

The real star of these cookies is the taste, spurred by a hint of nutmeg. There is such a large proportion of oats that I could almost forget about the two sticks of butter and two cups of sugar. Although the chocolate chip cookie I sampled proved to be quite tasty indeed, I will leave those to JG and stick with the cranberry-white chocolate ones. The cookie in my bag may not make it to lunchtime.

(Recipe after the jump)

Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies*
America’s Test Kitchen
Yields: about 20 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

* Since we are an anti-raisin household, I used chocolate chips (2/3 cup) for half of the batch, and dried cranberries and white chocolate chips (1/3 cup of each) for the other half.

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugars together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.
3. Reduce them mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the oats and raisins until just incorporated.
4. Working with 1/4 cup of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay on two parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 1/2 inches apart. Flatten the cookies slightly using your palm. Bake until the tops of the cookies are lightly golden but the centers are still puffy, 22-25 minutes, rotating and switching the baking sheets halfway through baking.
5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

To Make Ahead:

• The dough can be made through step 3 and either covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
• Or, portion out and the dough and freeze for 2-3 hours, or until firm, on a parchment- or wax-paper-lined plate; then, transfer the dough balls into a zipper-lock bag and freeze for up to 1 month.
• When ready to bake, reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and increase the baking time to 30-35 minutes.