The Oft Neglected Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

In a world where cookies are dominated by chocolate, whether it be white, dark, milk, chunks, chips, dipped or drizzled, the humble oatmeal raisin cookie cannot compete.   Let's face it, raisins, while tasty in my opinion, aren't met with the same love as a chocolate chip.




Poor 'nature's candy.'  Where's the love? 

I happen to like oatmeal raisin cookies very much.  Not as much as double chocolate chunk cookies, or even snickerdoodles, but oatmeal raisin and I go way back.

When Caroline was a baby we lived in a very small town in southern Arizona.  There wasn't a whole lot in the  way of entertainment, but it didn't really matter because we had a baby.  A baby who hated the car and only slept in her bed or in my arms.  Needless to say, we didn't get out much.  Anyway, after a day of endless feedings, wiping spit-up from my shirt and praying that Caroline would take a decent nap, I'd sometimes escape to a local grocery store in evenings.  Just to get away.  I didn't do this often, but when I did, I relished the the quiet time.  And best of all?  The grocery store I went to sold really big and very tasty cookies in their bakery.  I liked that you could buy just one or two and not a dozen.  So after I shopped for whatever I needed, I'd buy myself a big oatmeal raisin cookie (I probably bought Craig some type of cookie, too) and eat it in the car on the way home.





Being a chocolate lover, I'm not sure why I opted for oatmeal raisin over, say a chocolate chunk cookie, but I did.  Maybe I was trying to be healthy?  Because a cookie the size of your head, filled with butter and sugar, is consider healthy if it contains raisins, right? 

Whatever the case, it has been a long time since I've eaten or made oatmeal raisin cookies. 

Imagine my surprise and delight when Sarah, Caroline's friend, asked me if I'd bake her some oatmeal raisin cookies for her Girl Scout party.  You see, Sarah's mom doesn't bake.  She doesn't like to bake and really has no desire to even attempt to bake.  Because baking is one of the very few things I do well, I jumped at the chance to help Sarah out.  You can't let the Girl Scouts down, after all.

Originally, the cookies were for a party last Thursday.  However, snow happened and the party was postponed until Sunday.  On Saturday afternoon, Craig took Caroline to basketball practice and then shopping for my Christmas gift; I stayed home and baked cookies.

If you look very closely in the above picture, you'll notice that the raisins are awfully red.  Well, that's because those red raisins are actually dried cranberries.  But what about all those raisins to whom I just proclaimed my undying love?

You know I can't leave well enough alone.  I made just enough oatmeal raisin cookies for the Girl Scouts; to the remaining batter, I omitted the raisins and added some extra goodies:

White chocolate

dried cranberries

and some unpictured chocolate chunks.

I know it's rather unscrupulous to laud raisins and then omit them in favor of chocolate and cranberries, but I couldn't help it.  White chocolate/cranberry is my favorite wintertime combo. 

Don't get me wrong, I feel badly for treating my friend, the raisin, so poorly.  It's almost as if I made a date with the raisin but ditched him for someone more exciting.  I guess it's true:  girls say they want a nice, reliable guy, but they end up ditching the nice guy, er...raisin,  for someone a little more colorful and adventurous.

The heart wants what the heart wants.