Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A girl I work with has recently dealt with some pretty scary medical issues. She underwent a small (but pretty scary) surgery to remove a cancerous lesion on her thyroid. Although the surgery is fairly easy, as far as surgeries go, it does have some pretty strict limitations on post-surgical activities. Because the thyroid is located on the neck, my coworker had very clear instructions to not talk for an entire week after her surgery. Imagine, a week without speaking.

Since she would be home from work for a week by herself, I put together a post-surgery survivial kit. I let her borrow some books and movies, bought as many crossword books and sudoku puzzles as I could get my hands on, and other stuff to keep her hands and mind occupied for that week. Oh, and I also baked her cookies.

My coworker has some pretty strange tastes. Ok, not strange, just night and day to what I like. First off, she doesn't like chocolate. Or apples. I don't know what to do with someone like that :) But I had to think outside my normal baking comfort zone, which is to pack as much chocolate into as little square footage as possible. I settled on classic oatmeal raisin cookies because they seemed like a safe bet - no chocolate in sight.

I found my recipe here, which is quickly turning into my go-to for anything I bake. These cookies are everything that Deb promises: thick, chewy, and perfect in texture. Yum.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.

Chill the dough for a bit in the fridge for a few hours, overnight if you can.
The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.