Oldschool Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

As I said in my sole previous baking post, I'm not a big baker. And I'm not. With one exception. Every holiday season, my mum and I spend a day baking cookies. Nothing fancy--we're a pretty basic family and none of us are huge into sweets. We either bake oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip cookies or, if we're feeling bold, both.

Now this is what is called a family tradition. This year, for example, I took a train home to PA so that on Saturday I could bake with my mum, and then proceeded to drive up to the Catskills where my brother is building a cabin the next day, picking him up on the way. You know, the brother that lives 10 blocks away? Yeah that one. You know what would have been easier than taking an hour and a half train Friday night and then driving two hours back to NYC to drive two hours outside of it? Not leaving NYC. But that was our day to bake, and I was not going to be the one to disappoint my mum, especially not around the holidays. 

Besides that, the day that we bake cookies is also the day...we decorate the tree! And I love decorating the tree. We have another tradition in my house--every single year we each get an ornament with that date on it. So I have ornaments going back to my adorable first birthday, throughout my early childhood (which is ruled by ornaments with dogs on them...I guess my parents finally got the message), into my formative years (formative=teenage=bratty. just saying) and even through college. It is one of my favorite traditions ever in my house and one that I'll continue with my family. 

Tradition people! Tradition! What's next, lasagna with sausage in it? 

This year we made oatmeal raisin cookies. This is our riff on the old-fashioned oatmeal cookie recipe provided on every box of Quaker Oats since...ever. We've changed the rules a little to improve it, but this is the same deliciously classic recipe that made oatmeal raisin cookies a household love.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 c raisins

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350F. Get your electric mixer out and set that baby up.

2. Get out three bowls. In one bowl, combine your sugars and drop in your butter. In the second combine your beaten eggs and vanilla. In the third, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

3. Remove ingredients to a regular mixing bowl. Add oats and raisins to bowl and mix in.

4. Using a teaspoon, drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets (you can use a bigger spoon if you prefer a larger cookie; my preference is for small ones that are taller)

5. Bake eight to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cookie sheet and cool. Then eat to your heart's content...which my family did, hence the lack of a finished picture. *sigh* Doesn't my family understand I'm a food blogger and i need the FINAL product more than the process?