The Great Cookie Experiment – Raisin-Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The Great Cookie Experiment – Raisin-Chip Oatmeal Cookies

 

There is just no pleasing everybody.  It’s impossible.  I give up.  This is a cookie that to ME would be wonderful because it has a little bit of everything.  Raisins, chocolate chips, oatmeal, coconut, nuts, cinnamon.  Yum!  Except that I make my cookies to bring to our regular Saturday night game nights.  One friend hates coconut and most nuts.  Everytime I make a cookie with those things in them, he looks at me like I kicked his favorite puppy.  Like I made them just to punish him.  I’m just making the cookies as they come in the Taste of Home magazine, good or bad.  It’s not as if I’m deliberately picking the things he hates.  This time, I figure I will be nice and leave out the coconut and nuts, since they are bonus ingredients anyway.  The REAL treat is the combination of the chocolate and raisins.

 

At game night, friends start to sample the cookies.   One friend takes a bite, makes a face and says, “EW!  Why did you put in RAISINS?  I thought these were chocolate chip!”  He wasn’t impressed at my argument that raisins were “Nature’s Candy”.  He gave the rest of the cookie to his wife, and ate the other goodies there.  He would have been happier with the coconut and nuts.  And the friend who hates the coconut and nuts?  He wasn’t there.  He’d have liked the raisins.

 

This cookie has everything in it, and that means that probably somebody in your family will hate something in it.  You will have to figure out which things to put in and leave out.  I should note, that this is a cookie recipe designed for bake sales because it makes TWELVE DOZEN COOKIES.  I did not make twelve dozen cookies.  I cut the recipe in half, and that was plenty of cookies all by itself.  If you are making these for a bake sale or something, please remember that this cookie has everything in it which means that most people will hate something in it.  You can’t please everybody.  Don’t’ even try.

 

And as a note to my friend who hates nuts- next week’s cookie has pecans in it.  Stop looking at me like that, I didn’t kick your favorite puppy!

Raisin-Chip Oatmeal Cookies

 

2 cups butter, softened

1 2/3 cups sugar

1 2/3 cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

4 cups flour

2 ½ cups quick cooking oats

2 ½ cups old fashioned oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

3 cups chopped nuts

2 cups raisins

1 cup coconut flakes

 

Cream butter and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.  Beat in vanilla.  Combine dry ingredients.  Gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, and coconut.  Drop by Tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 12 dozen.

 

The Great Cookie Experiment – Orange Dreams

The Great Cookie Experiment – Orange Dreams

 

I have seen several versions of this cookie floating around the internet, and I have been excited to try this one.   This is an orange cookie with vanilla chips and the idea reminds me of a dreamsicle- orange on the outside, creamy vanilla on the inside.  Mm.  Dreamsicles.   I think this is why these cookies are named Orange Dreams.  I’m pretty sure.

 

The cookies were a little dry- they stayed roundish instead of flattening out the way I like them to.  They tasted very good, and most everybody liked them.  I wanted MORE orange, however.  There’s only a bit of grated orange rind in the dough, so there was the occasional hint of orange, but for me there wasn’t enough.  Maybe a splash of orange juice and bit more orange peel would add more flavor, and solve my dry cookie problem in the meantime.  I would say, however, that this is a cookie that would be pretty reliable- it tastes good, and is unique enough that people will be impressed with it.

Orange Dreams

 

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbl grated orange peel

2 ¼ cups flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 ½ cups vanilla or white chips

 

Cream butter and sugars.  Beat in egg and orange peel.  Combine the dry ingredients, and gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Stir in vanilla chips.  Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 4 ½ dozen.