This is a delicious recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies that I found at Starbucks, which is the actual recipe that they use to make their oh-so-delicious oatmeal raisin cookies.

Ingredients:

1 ½ C old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

½ C all purpose flour

¼ C dark raisins

¼ C golden raisins

¼ C dried cranberries

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

½ C packed dark brown sugar

¼ C granulated sugar

1 large egg

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 Tbsp dark raisins (topping)

4 Tbsp golden raisins (topping)

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Blend together oats, flour, raisins, cranberries, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside. Beat butter, dark brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add your egg, cinnamon and vanilla; beat until combined.  Gradually add oat mixture; beat until combined.  Combine raisins for topping in separate bowl and set aside.  Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, two inches apart, onto two baking sheets.  Place one mounded teaspoon of raisins on top of the dough.  Bake for about 12 to 16 minutes until cookies are golden brown but still soft.  Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets and then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. 

When I think about oatmeal raisin cookies, I think of my childhood and coming in from a long day of playing outside to the warm and delicious smell of oatmeal raisin cookies baking in the oven.  I used to always ask my mom if I could lick the bowl and beaters after she was done with them, my mouth salivating while I waited. I remember taking them to school and sharing them with my whole elementary school class, making me the popular and most liked kid for that day. 

When I was a nanny I would make oatmeal raisin cookies because they are slightly healthier than chocolate chip cookies and it made me feel better when I wanted to give my nanny kids a special treat.  Plus, when we would take them with us to play group on Monday’s most of the toddlers were not aloud to have chocolate yet, so it was a perfect and boy did they scarf those cookies down!  A good substitute to make the cookies even healthier would be to substitute the butter with applesauce.  The applesauce does make the cookies slightly sticky, but I noticed that the toddlers I was a nanny for and the kids at play group loved them with applesauce and they tasted a little less fattening too.