My Favourite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Are Method Higher Than Any Bakery’s

A few years in the past, I used to be answerable for doing the primary bake of the day at a café. At 5:00 a.m., I’d preheat the ovens, then spend hours baking trays and trays of croissants, muffins, scones, and an assortment of desserts and cookies. As I quietly labored, I’d sip a cup of espresso and nibble on any pastries that weren’t adequate to promote, like lopsided muffins or oval cookies.

I usually discovered myself gravitating to the oatmeal raisin cookies: Tender, chewy, and filled with hearty rolled oats and loads of raisins, they felt like an applicable alternative for breakfast. Every chunk was wealthy and buttery, with deep caramel notes from darkish brown sugar and simply sufficient salt to stop the cookie from being overly candy. That cookie gave me a deep appreciation for oatmeal raisin cookies—although chocolate chip cookies get all of the love, oatmeal raisin cookies are simply as (and typically much more!) scrumptious.

Working example: My Birmingham, Alabama-based check kitchen colleague Nicole Hopper’s oatmeal raisin cookies that we’re sharing the recipe for right here—they’re comfortable and crisp, with barely chewy edges and heat notes of cinnamon and freshly floor nutmeg. Thanks to some intelligent strategies, Nicole’s cookies are as flavorful as will be, and with a number of of her ideas and methods, you may make bakery-worthy oatmeal raisin cookies in your very personal kitchen.

7 Suggestions for Making the Finest Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Brown your butter. Whereas many oatmeal raisin cookie recipes have you ever begin by creaming the butter and sugar collectively, Nicole browns the butter by heating it till the water begins to evaporate and the milk solids caramelize, producing wealthy, nutty flavors that pair properly with the toasted oats and dried fruit, leading to a extra advanced tasting cookie.

Bloom your spices. Blooming refers back to the strategy of heating spices in a fats like oil or butter, which helps launch many fat-soluble taste compounds. As former Severe Eats editor Sho has touched on, blooming can also be a good way of evenly dispersing taste all through a dish or, on this case, cookie dough. After you brown the butter, Nicole has you stir in floor cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. Because the cinnamon and floor nutmeg sit within the sizzling fats, they turn into much more aromatic, giving the cookies a extra pronounced spiced observe. 

Use rolled oats. When you don’t have any rolled oats available, it might be tempting to swap in quick-cooking oats or steel-cut oats. These oats, nevertheless, don’t have the proper of texture: As a result of quick-cooking oats are steamed and rolled thinner than common oats, they’re too delicate to include into cookie dough with out disintegrating or crumbling. Metal-cut oats, then again, are reduce with blades—not steamed and rolled. In consequence, they take for much longer than rolled or quick-cooking oats to prepare dinner, and gained’t soften adequately when folded into cookie dough. 

Toast the oats. One of many quickest methods to offer oats extra taste is to toast them. (It is a trick that additionally works with different grains and cereal, and one I exploit in my Rice Krispie treats and Cornflake marshmallow treats.) All it’s important to do is lay the oats in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, then toast them within the oven till they’re frivolously browned and aromatic. The warmth enhances the earthy flavors of the oats, and along with the brown butter, darkish brown sugar, and vanilla, ends in a cookie with deep butterscotch notes. 

Chill the dough. Refrigerating the dough for not less than two hours permits the flour and toasted oats to hydrate, whereas additionally firming up the butter, which prevents the cookies from spreading an excessive amount of within the oven. Most significantly, although, chilling the dough offers enzymes an opportunity to interrupt down giant carbohydrates. As former Severe Eats culinary director Kenji notes in his chocolate chip cookie recipe, this helps with the caramelization and browning course of, leading to extra flavorful cookies.

For completely spherical cookies, swirl a hoop cutter round every cookie. Although not important, I wish to make my cookies completely spherical by swirling a hoop cutter round each whereas they’re nonetheless heat on the baking sheet. No ring cutter? No worries. Your cookies will nonetheless be scrumptious—simply not good circles.

Cool the cookies correctly. As a result of these cookies are very delicate out of the oven, it’s essential to allow them to cool on the baking sheet for not less than quarter-hour. This offers them an opportunity to set, and prevents them from breaking once you switch them to the wire rack to complete cooling. As soon as they’ve had an opportunity to chill, serve them up with glasses of milk or stash them in an hermetic container the place they may final for 5 days (if they are not wolfed up sooner).

Prepare dinner Mode
(Maintain display awake)

• 226g unsalted butter (8 ounces; 2 sticks)

• 1 teaspoon floor cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 212g rolled oats (7 1/2 ounces; 2 1/2 cups)

• 170g all-purpose flour (6 ounces; 1 1/3 cups)

• 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity 

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 213g darkish brown sugar (7 1/2 ounces; 1 cup)

• 50g granulated sugar (1 3/4 ounces; 1/4 cup)

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 giant eggs

• 143g raisins (5 ounces; 1 cup)

1. Modify oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC). In a small saucepan, soften butter over medium warmth. Prepare dinner, stirring usually, till butter solids flip golden brown and odor nutty, 6 to eight minutes. Instantly take away saucepan from warmth, pour butter and toasted bits into a big heatproof bowl, and stir in cinnamon and nutmeg. Put aside to chill barely, about 10 minutes.

2. In the meantime, unfold oats in a fair layer on a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring often, till oats are toasted and golden, 10 to fifteen minutes. Flip oven off. Take away from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk collectively flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk darkish brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla into butter combination till easy, then whisk in eggs, separately, till combination is thick, easy, and glossy. Add flour combination to butter combination and, utilizing a rubber spatula, fold collectively till largely mixed. Fold in raisins and toasted oats till evenly distributed and no streaks of flour stay. Cowl and refrigerate till chilled, not less than 2 hours or as much as 24 hours.

4. When able to bake, alter oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC) and line two 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Utilizing a 2-ounce (#16) cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop dough onto ready baking sheets, spacing dough not less than 2 inches aside. (Every portion ought to weigh about 2 1/2 ounces or 72g.) Utilizing your palms or a flat-bottomed measuring cup, gently press down on cookie dough to flatten into 1-inch tall discs (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter).

5. Bake, one baking sheet at a time, till edges are golden and facilities are nonetheless comfortable and pale, 12 to 14 minutes. Instantly after eradicating baking sheet from oven, bang pan on counter. For neater cookies, swirl a 4 1/2-inch ring cutter or small bowl round every cookie to assist form right into a tidy circle. Let cool on baking sheet for quarter-hour, then switch to a wire rack to chill fully, about 45 minutes.

Particular Tools

Small saucepan, whisk, giant heatproof bowl, two 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheets, rubber spatula, 2-ounce (#16) cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, 4 1/2-inch ring cutter (optionally available)

Variations

Dried chopped apricots, cherries, cranberries, will be substituted for raisins. You’ll be able to add as much as 1 cup extra mix-ins of your alternative, resembling chopped chocolate or nuts, if desired.

Notes

In case your dried fruit feels very dried out, you’ll be able to rehydrate it by soaking in sizzling water (or the alcohol of your alternative, resembling rum or bourbon) for as much as 10 minutes. Drain by a fine-mesh sieve and dab dry with a paper towel earlier than utilizing.

When you want smaller cookies, you’ll be able to portion them with a 2 tablespoon scoop and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes as a substitute of 12 to 14 minutes.

Make-Forward and Storage

As soon as cooled, baked cookies will be saved in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 5 days.

Portioned cookie dough will be frozen for as much as 3 months. To freeze cookie dough, place portioned dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze till agency. As soon as frozen, switch to a zip-top bag and freeze. Bake from frozen till edges are golden and facilities are comfortable and pale, about quarter-hour.