My flirtation with oatmeal raisin cookies

I've never been one for oatmeal raisin cookies. In fact, I always kind of hated them. I don't particularly care for oatmeal or raisins.

When one friend requested them a week or so ago, I kind of wrinkled my nose. But when I offered up cookies to my friend's boyfriend as a thank you for driving us to the wine fest last week, I found myself on the hunt for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.

On my first go around I used this recipe from Food Network kitchens. I went through two batches before I had one that could be served without shame to others. Part of the problem may have been that I didn't add the pecans. I also think the oven temperature was too hot. My first batch got too thin, almost melted.

So it was trial and error. I lowered the heat on the oven. Added more oatmeal. Eventually they came out all right, but I felt like they could have had more spices.

I ate through the rejects all week, finding that they made a decent little breakfast with my coffee. Come on, they're oatmeal and raisins! That's fairly healthy ... I almost started liking them.

After I ate the last one Saturday, I wanted more. So Sunday I had another go at it.

This time I altered the recipe, largely based on what was available in my kitchen. I didn't have butter, so I used Crisco. I also threw in a little baking powder, hoping they'd get puffy. For the most part, I halved the original recipe but the big tease came when I discovered I didn't have as much oatmeal as I thought, so just threw in what I had.

They turned out pretty tasty. The lack of oatmeal gave them the texture of a normal cookie, with some oats more or less as garnish. This is what I came up with.

What you need:

3/4 cup Crisco

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsps. vanilla

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsps. allspice

2 tsps. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

2 cups oats

raisins to taste

What to do:

Use blender to mix Crisco and sugar. Start on a low speed and blend until combined, then turn to a higher speed and beat until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and combine. Add the eggs one at a time and combine. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and mix. Stir in the oatmeal and raisins.

Pre-heat the oven 325. Drop cookie dough on baking sheet and cook for about 12 minutes.