Thursday, May 01, 2008

Oatmeal Cookies With Chocolate, Coconut, And Raisins


Seriously, these cookies have something for everyone. I changed the original recipe so much that it is probably easier to simply post what I did. The original recipe was from Gourmet, August 2001. I omitted nuts, cut the sugar, added raisins and so on.


The cookies were a big hit with the boys. I almost forgot to serve them along with the chocolate pudding I'd made...but Danny looked up at me (pausing from inhaling pudding) and suggested politely that it would "be nice if mama would go get Danny a cookie." Hard to argue with that.


The cookies are large and would probably be excellent for ice cream sandwiches.


I made the first batch with silicone pads on my baking sheets and they were fine. The second batch I used parchment and they were slightly darker-barely noticeable, but if you're using parchment keep an eye on them. Otherwise, lightly grease the baking sheets.



2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) softened at room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/4 cups old fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate cut into 1/2 inch (or so) chunks

3/4 cup raisins


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.


Beat together the butter and sugars until light. Add eggs one at a time mixing well. Beat in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and mix at low speed just until blended. Stir in by hand the oats, coconut, chocolate and raisins.


Each cookie sheet will have eight cookies so space accordingly(about 3 inches apart). The cookies should be about 1/4 cup. Round them up (the original directions suggested flattening them slightly-don't do this or you will have flat, hard cookies). As you wait for the next batch, keep the rest of the dough in the fridge.


Bake in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and switch positions after 7 minutes. Bake another 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool one minute on sheet, then transfer to rack to cool.

2 comments:

Page D. said...

My husband's family has a similar cookie recipe called "Pride of Iowa". He has been making them for years... to rave reviews. He doesn't put in raisins, but I'm going to ask him to try that.
Did you ever hear the Neiman Marcus Cookie Story? It circulated many years ago and turned out to be a hoax.
http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/cookie.asp
I was shocked when that recipe was VERY similar to my husband's "secret family recipe"!

Goody said...

Seems like anything called "Pride of Iowa" should have some pork products in it-lard perhaps? Or maybe following the latest popular fad, chocolate covered bacon (wink).


I hadn't heard the Neiman Marcus legend-that's pretty funny.

I suppose there are only so many ways to make a "jumble-type" cookie and sooner or later they all start sounding similar. I did start to think these might be even better using chocolate covered raisins. See how dangerous baking can get?