Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Makes about 18 big cookies or ~30 of varying sizes if you're me

This recipe and the others from my week o' cookies (Thick & Chewy Double-Chocolate Cookies, Gingered Sugar Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies) are all from Baking Illustrated. It's more or less the only baking book I use because it yields really good results and I learn a lot from it. Not sure if posting things from books is kosher here, so please let me know if I need to delete this.

These cookies are really rich and definitely delicious. The recipe was pretty simple, perhaps because I'd been making cookies all week, and from starting to putting them in the oven took just a little over a half an hour. I highly recommend these if you're at all a fan of oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 16 tbsp (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1.5 cups raisins

Equipment

• Medium bowl
• Large bowl
• Mixer
• Sturdy spatula
• Various measuring devices
• Two cookie sheets, parchment paper (or you can grease the pans of course)
• Grater or microplane for nutmeg.

Prep & Mixing

- Put oven racks in low and middle positions and preheat the oven to 350. Grease or parchment paper your cookie sheets.

- Grate nutmeg. It took a lot less than one nut for me, so you don't need much. Also, admire the world's cutest grater:

- Whisk together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in the medium bowl.

- In the large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until "fluffy," about 3 minutes.

- Beat in eggs one at a time.

- BY HAND, using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the flour mixture. It's helpful to use a sturdy spatula because mixing the dry ingredients in makes the dough pretty stubborn. See how happy it is to stick up all together?

- Still by hand, mix in the raisins and oatmeal.

Shaping and Baking

- Roll 2 tbsp dough into a 2 inch ball for each cookie. The large size is supposed to make them chewier and less cakey, which is delicious. Set them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets (note: mine are funny sized and pretty close to one another since I'm working with about one and a half baking sheets, instead of two. I guess the funny sizes are just because I'm inconsistent, actually...)

- Bake until the edges are golden brown. The middle will be a bit underdone but that's on purpose for a chewier cookie. The book gives a time of 22-25 minutes, but my smaller cookie sheet was done quicker than that, probably because it's uninsulated and started out on the bottom oven rack. Halfway through the baking time, switch the sheets from top to bottom and turn them around to ensure even baking.

- Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, then move the cookies to cooling racks. Let them cool for around 30 minutes to achieve chewiness.

Mm! Delicious!