I never thought I could like a cookie this much that didn’t contain any chocolate. But wow, these cookies are good! These are oatmeal cookies for people who don’t like oatmeal cookies.
When Jarron first requested oatmeal cookies (he’s never had them before), I thought: chocolate chip.
“No, not chocolate chip,” he said. “Raisin.”
Now raisins have always been my idea of a good way to ruin a perfectly good oatmeal cookie. But upon that point—of raisins—he was insistent.
Grumbling, I set out to develop an oatmeal raisin cookie based on my original chocolate chip cookie recipe (I do almost always get my way around here; you’d never be able to tell from the array of desserts we eat, but Jarron is not himself all that crazy about chocolate).
Since the recipe would have raisins in it, and therefore I would be eating almost none of the cookies (except to sample the texture), I felt pretty confident about making a small experimental batch. After all, I had been turning my nose up at oatmeal raisin cookies my whole life.
I made a half batch of dough and decided to bake up just six cookies to test the baking time and temperature. Jarron had a blood test to take the next day and needed to fast for twenty-four hours, so he wouldn’t be able to taste any of the fresh out-of-the-oven cookies; but he did want to take several with him to work the next day.
I baked up the six cookies and let them cool on a rack before I sampled my first one. The smell was heavenly, and I was surprised to find myself looking forward to tasting this cookie.
“Oh, wow! These cookies are good!” I said, as I ate first one cookie and then another.
“Okay,” Jarron said, hearing my moans of pleasure from the other room, “Don’t forget to save some for me!”
I ate a third cookie.
“How many do you want to take to work with you tomorrow?” I asked, eyeing the three remaining cookies on the sheet. I reached for the smallest of the three. “How about two?”
“I was thinking three,” Jarron said.
I had half of the third cookie in my mouth. I finished chewing and set the rest of it down. “How about two and a half?”
“Why would I want to take half a cookie?”
“Because that’s all that’s left.”
A note on oats: For this recipe, make sure you use 100% certified gluten-free oats. As a grain, oats are naturally gluten free, but most commercial brands of oats have been contaminated by gluten in the processing facility. Bob’s Red Mill sells certified gluten-free oats, and I used those.
Add-ins: As much as I enjoyed this version with raisins, I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop myself from experimenting with these—namely, adding chocolate to the next batch.
Maybe even raisins and chocolate chips. And nuts. I think white chocolate chips and craisins would be great, too. I will let you know what I try, and I would love it if you would do the same. This is an excellent cookie base for playing around with.
To make the cookies non-gf: Substitute 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour for the buckwheat, millet, sorghum, brown rice, potato starch, sweet rice, and tapioca flour, and use whatever brand of oatmeal you have on hand.
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp each of buckwheat, millet, sorghum, and brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups gluten-free oats
2 tbsp sweet rice flour
1 tbsp tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
large pinch of nutmeg
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup raisins
- If you haven’t already, take your eggs out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature.
- Combine the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and whisk, aerating and blending until cohesive. Add the oats and stir to combine.
- Take the butter out of the fridge and cut into about eight pieces per stick, roughly the size of a tablespoon. Immediately place butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine on low speed, then cream on medium speed until the mixture comes together and is fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla; scrape down the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture in three installments on low speed, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Once the flour is thoroughly incorporated, remove the bowl from the mixer and add the raisins, mixing by hand until incorporated.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and use a tablespoon measure to scoop six balls of dough, spaced in two rows of three.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
- Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and bang on the counter top to flatten the cookies.
- Immediately remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Cool five minutes before eating or completely before storing in an airtight container.
Makes four dozen chewy oatmeal cookies.
flours and chocolates 