Baking Obsession

After all fancy holiday cooking and baking, and overindulging (pigging-out is actually the word), I crave simple things. These are as good as it gets. Freshly baked, they have a great texture – crispy outside and chewy interior. The following day the crispiness, unfortunately, is gone, but the flavor gets even better, so I think it makes a perfect sense to bake as many of them.

The recipe is from Alice Medrich’s Cookie book.

Makes about 7 dozen

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup water
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut or 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup raisins

Preparation:

Place the oats in a small bowl and sprinkle with the water. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

Cut the butter into chunks and melt in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugars, vanilla, and salt. Add the egg and stir briskly. Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the coconut or walnuts, raisins, and oats. Let the dough stand for at least 1 but preferably 2 hours (better still) cover and refrigerate overnight.

Center the oven rack and preheat the oven to 350F. Line several cookie sheets with foil, dull side up. Don’t grease the foil.

Using a small ice-cream scoop, measure out equal portions of dough and place them about 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. Bake in batches for 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are golden brown on top. Set the sheets or just the foil liners with the cookies on cooling racks to cool. Use a metal spatula to remove the cookies. Cool completely before storing and stacking. Can be kept in an airtight container for several days.