Last night was the annual Festivus dinner between my friends and me. Last night was also the fourth day since I’d blogged, and I was determined to cook something for my 12 Days of Cookbooks series. I knew I needed to roast an approximately 400-lb. chicken, make a butternut squash-kale-cheddar cheese casserole, and cook some dessert that required the fresh cranberries that have been sitting in the fridge for a few days. However, I searched ALL of my cookbooks and NONE of them had a dessert utilizing fresh cranberries. Yeah.
So in between trying to figure out how to fit this chicken in my oven, wash kale in a sink full of dirty dishes, and make it to Jackson’s with clothes and makeup on, I called my mom and asked for her spicy oatmeal-raisin cookies.
These cookies taste like Christmas. My mom has been making these since I was little, so every bite contains the joy of two weeks off from school, playing in the cold, and unwrapping presents. They have a crunchy exterior, but the oats and raisins on the inside are chewy, and the warm spices make these a perfect cold-weather snack.
I love when my mom bakes Christmas cookies. For as long as I remember, this recipe has been inside her worn recipe book with the blue cover. In fact, when I called for the recipe, she had been baking the cookies too! As I was boxing up the rest of my oatmeal-raisin cookies this evening to give away, I reflected on how my mom’s generosity and passion for making people happy has rubbed off on me, and how grateful I am for that.
Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:
1 c. butter, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs – mix.
2 c. flour, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 2 tsp. allspice, 2 tsp. cloves, 1 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking soda – mix.
Mix wet into dry.
Add 3 c. oatmeal, 1 c. raisins or dried cranberries, and 1 c. pecans.
Bake at 350 for 12-14 min.
(Here are a couple pictures of the sugar cookies Preston and I made the other day. Enjoy!)
A couple of Preston's. I didn't get a picture of his snowflakes, but they were gorgeous!! And yes, that is a tube sock.
These cookies look so amazing and sound so delicious. I just love the spice in this cookies… it seems so interesting :)
Thanks Tes! The spices are incredible, AND it will make your whole house (or cramped apartment, in my case) smell like the holidays :)
which cookies did you decorate?
Is this Jeff? The “cupboard above the stairs” part makes me think it is, but this comment doesn’t have the usual snarkiness. I decorated the Christmas trees in the first picture, as well as some candy canes and stockings and snowflakes. The recipe was spiced brown sugar cookies from Annie’s Eats (http://annies-eats.com/2010/11/22/spiced-brown-sugar-cut-out-cookies/).