Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

It's not that I haven't been baking - I just haven't been blogging about it. Work takes up too much of my time and that leaves me to bake my favourite recipes with very little experimentation. Needless to say, the pile of cookbooks (with recipes to be tried faithfully tagged) is increasing.

This recipe is from Martha Stewart Living, the January 2011 issue and it was simple enough to try out.


Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
makes 40-48 cookies

1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins


Preheat oven at 350F. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. Finally, combine the oats and raisins with the cookie dough. Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop dough onto parchment-line baking sheets, spacing each scoop about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden. Let cookies cool before removing from the baking sheet and storing.


Verdict: The cookie was crisp at the edge and more chewy in the middle. It was a little sweet but perfect with a glass of milk. In our humidity here, I think they are better stored in an airtight container or in the fridge.

Gingerbread Cookie

Gingerbread Cookies
makes about 3 dozen cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks butter
1 cup less 2 tbs dark brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbs hot water
1 tbs treacle or molasses
1 ½ tsp baking soda
4 ½ cups flour
1 tbs ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt

Cream the butter with the sugar until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl then beat in the egg and mix well. In a small bowl, combine the hot water, treacle and baking soda. Add that mixture to the butter and blend in. In a separate bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together before adding in small portions to the butter mixture, combining well after each addition.

Divide the dough into portions, roll out each between 2 plastic sheets, till about 5mm thick. Place the rolled out sheets of cookie dough onto a baking tray to be chilled in the fridge, preferably overnight.

Before baking, preheat oven to 350F. Remove cookie dough sheets from the fridge and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place cut shapes onto a cookie tray lined with silicone sheet or parchment paper, leaving about an inch between each cookie to allow for expansion. Re-roll the scraps of cookie dough into new sheets and chill it before repeating the whole process.

Bake for 8-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies, until the edges start turning brown. Cool the cookies completely before decorating with royal icing.

Butter Cookie

Butter Cookies
makes 2-3 dozen cookies

1 cup or 2 sticks butter
2 ¼ cup sugar
1 egg
3 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp flavor extract (optional, your choice)

Cream the butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl then add the egg and flavor extract, mixing well. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and salt together before adding in small portions to the butter mixture, combining well after each addition.

Divide the dough into portions, roll out each between 2 plastic sheets, till about 5mm thick. Place the rolled out sheets of cookie dough onto a baking tray to be chilled in the fridge, preferably overnight.

Before baking, preheat oven to 350F. Remove cookie dough sheets from the fridge and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place cut shapes onto a cookie tray lined with silicone sheet or parchment paper, leaving about an inch between each cookie to allow for expansion. Re-roll the scraps of cookie dough into new sheets and chill it before repeating the whole process.

Bake for 8-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies, until the edges start turning brown. Cool the cookies completely before decorating with icing.

Royal Icing

500g icing sugar
3 tbs meringue powder
8-12 tbs water

Sift together the dry ingredients and mix with water. Add more if the consistency is too stiff in order to get a suitable piping consistency. Add more water to get a consistency for flooding the outlines. Use only food colour gel to get the shade desired.

I used a a #2 piping tip for the outlines and a #3 or #4 tip for flooding.