Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Just about two months ago, we met our birth mother for the first time.  Our agency told us that while gifts are inappropriate (obviously), that it would be appropriate and is often common for adoptive couples to bring something small, such as baked goods or flowers, to that meeting.  So, Jackie made chocolate chip cookies that she has made in our house over the last few years, off a recipe she received from an Amish mother of one of her students.  The cookies were a hit, but our birthmother stated that her favorite cookies were oatmeal raisin cookies.

As Jackie doesn't like anything to do with oatmeal, and since I am more of the experimenter in the kitchen, it fell to me to bake up some oatmeal raisin cookies for the next time we met.  After scouring the Internet and sites like Pinterest, I found some recipes that I combined and tweaked, and came up with one to use.  They turned out well on my "trial run," just needing a little more flour to help them hold together better.  While our birthmother was at first hesitant to try them based on the knowledge that I baked them (I am still amazed at how often people are amazed that I do the cooking - we still live in a society that has a very traditional sense of gender roles), she ended up loving them; and I have made them each time we have seen her since.

We've (me, Jackie, birthmom*) talked about how we will be able to tell the child that while she was being carried by her birth mom, she ate lots of oatmeal raisin cookies, and that in the future we could make these same cookies with our daughter - a small way to connect her to her own unique story.  Its one of those little things that as we get closer to the reality of the adoption, and closer to that next stage of our life beginning (hopefully - there's always a little caution and reservation), I really look forward to and gets me smiling.

So anyway, thought I would share to recipe...

Ingredients

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar (firmly packed)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups oats

1 1/2 cups raisins

Directions

1. Whisk dry ingredients (salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour), and set aside.

2. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs with a hand mixer on low setting

3. Once initially mixed, increase speed to high and beat until the color lightens

4. Mix in the dry (flour, etc.) mixture until the flour is no longer visible (do not over mix, as it toughens the cookie)

5.  Stir in the oats and the raisins.

6.  Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough (ice cream scoop works well) and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.

7.  Bake 10-11 minutes until golden but still moist beneath cracks on top.

8. Let sit on sheet about 2 minutes after removing from oven before transferring to cooling rack or wax paper to cool.

Each time I have made the recipe, I get just about 4 dozen cookies, usually a tad bit more.  One time I have made it I added about a tablespoon of cinnamon, and it gave it a different, but still very good, flavor.

* I don't particularly like using "birth mom" and "birth mother" all the time, as opposed to her name, but such should be kept as confidential as possible, due to her wishes.