THE BEST OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

You know my love of color, pattern, and black and white, so it should be no surprise that growing up I loved Mary Engelbreit designs...from the calendars, to note pads, to prints...I even subscribed to her magazine for a few years.

Years ago, from one of those magazines, I clipped the best oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.  I haven't made them in a while, but yesterday was chilly and called for comfort food so I made a batch for the kids' after school snack.

This is not a particularly "healthy" version, but a few changes could  be made to the recipe, like using whole wheat flour, adding flax seed, using whole oats, etc., to make it a little bit better.

Mary Engelbreit Magazine Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

3 eggs, well beaten                          1 cup raisins
1 tsp. vanilla                                      1 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 c. brown sugar, packed        3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 1/2 c. flour                                     1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon                2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. quick cook oatmeal                 3/4 c. chopped pecans, optional

I truly believe this is the secret to this recipe being so yummy...

the raisins are soaked in an egg/vanilla mixture for an hour before hand to plump them up.

Combine eggs, raisins, and vanilla in bowl and cover.  Let stand for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter and sugars.  Add flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.  Mix well.  Add raisin mixture, oatmeal, and optional chopped nuts.  Dough will seem dry.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.  Cool on rack.

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