Oatmeal cookies

This is the next in my cookie series. Not holiday cookies, per se, but I bought raisins and, by God, raisins shall be used.  The recipe is at the end.

First, we establish that my cookie dough is usually not done by Kitchen-Aid but by hand mixing with a wooden spoon.    This butter had been removed from the fridge about one hour earlier but it was still not room temperature, so I got a bit of a workout as I creamed it.

 Sugars and spices and all sorts of nice stuff.

 OK, butter and sugars (with spices) are creamed.

 Now the eggs.  Notice that I am doubling the recipe, which is why you see two eggs instead of the one called for in the recipe below.

Next honey is added.  Interesting, yes?

 

The flour. It is followed by the oats, which I thought I had photographed, but evidently I did not.

The raisins (homage to my Central Valley roots).

And here is the dough, ready to be refrigerated for an hour before dropping onto the baking sheets.

These humble cookies may seem old-fashioned, but their signature oatmeal cookie flavor and soft/chewy texture never go out of style.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup brown sugar, to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt*
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cups raisins (golden or regular), or currants
• *If you use salted butter, reduce salt to 1/2 level teaspoon.

Directions

1. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. Beat together the butter, sugars, spices, salt, baking soda, and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
3. Beat in the egg, then the honey.
4. Stir in the flour, then the oats, then the raisins.
5. Cover the dough, and refrigerate it for 1 to 2 hours, until it's thoroughly chilled.
   
   Note: To save time, you can freeze unbaked cookies for 1 hour, rather than refrigerating the dough; see step 6, below.
6. Drop the chilled dough by generous tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. The cookies will spread, so leave 2" or so between them.
   
   If the dough hasn't been chilled, place the pans of shaped cookies in the freezer for 1 hour.
7. Just before baking, preheat the oven to 375°F.
8. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until they're barely beginning to brown. Reverse the pans (top to bottom, bottom to top) midway through baking. If the cookies have been frozen, bake them for 14 minutes.
9. Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool right on the pan; or transfer to a rack if you need the pan for the next batch.
10. Yield: about 26 cookies.

This recipe comes from the folks at King Arthur Flour.

I will post a photo of my finished product on Facebook later.
--the BB

Toasty coconut macaroons

Remember, if you click on the photo you can enlarge it.

Once you have toasted the coconut, the rest of this is beyond easy.  The cookies are almost nothing but egg whites, sugar, and toasted coconut.  Fun to dip in chocolate also.

Below are the ones that have just come out of the oven.

Happy baking!

--the BB