SOCIAL MEDIA

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Sunday it was snowy, cold and windy, so we were stuck in the house again. I was trying to think of ways to entertain the girls and decided to ask my sister-in-law for the cookie recipe she talked about at Christmas time. She told us she ate 8 cookies in one day and they were that good. Plus they are healthier than most cookies I choose to eat, so I thought why not.

I ran to the store to buy a few things I did not have on hand and headed back home to start baking cookies with my girls. Though they didn't help out much, they watched and taste tested a lot.

We made Ina Garten's Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies.

We made a few changes, but basically followed the recipe. I like raisin, but not too many and I know my girls will pick them out, so we cut the raisins way down.

RAISIN PECAN OATMEAL COOKIES
By: Ina Garten (with the changes I made below)

INGREDIENTS

8 oz pecans (her recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups)
2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 cups old-fashion oatmeal (NOT instant)
1/2 to 2/3 cup raisins (her recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bake pecans on a sheet pan for 5 minutes. Let them cool and chop coarsely.
3. In a mixer with a paddle attachment (Kitchenaid is what I used), beat the butter, brown sugar and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Set mixer to low setting and add the eggs, one at a time. Then add your vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, sift your flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together.
6. With your mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
7. Then add your oats, raisins and pecans in and mix until just combined.
8. Using a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop, scoop about a 2 inch round of dough onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon pad or parchment paper (I used the silicon pad). Slightly flatten the dough. Best to have your hand slightly wet.
9. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until very lightly browned. You want the cookies to be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.
10. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
 Only one or two raisins per cookie. Just perfect.
Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe makes about 33 cookies (3 or so inches round). I love cookies, but I don't need them when I am wearing a bikini in less than two weeks. So I looked up freezing your cookie dough. All my information comes from this website.

I froze about 15 cookies. You can freeze your cookies for up to 3 months if they are in dough form. If they have been cooked, you can freeze them for 3 to 4 weeks.

For the drop style cookies that I made, you want to scoop your cookies onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Then I flattened them out just as the recipe stated and then put them in the freezer (on the sheet pan) for just over an hour. Then I put the frozen dough balls into a freezer gallon zip lock bag. I made sure all of the air was out and sealed it. Then I wrote the date and the cookie type on the bag and put in my freezer. That way we can enjoy them later on.

Once we want to bake them, then we will take the cookies out of the freezer and put them in fridge to thaw for several hours. Then you cook them like normal. Or you can cook them frozen, just add a couple extra minutes onto the recipe time.

Super easy and better on my thighs. Ha.

Don't forget our monthly Girl Chat link up is this Thursday. The topic is A Time That You Were Really Lucky. I can't wait to read your stories!

13 comments :

  1. Yum! We love cookies and although I prefer chocolate chip my boys are more of this kind of cookie. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I might have to try these! I like raisins but I'm the same not too many!
    I normally freeze some cookies when I bake because it is nice to pull something out when company drops in hahaha

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oatmeal anything is my favorite cookie!

    ReplyDelete
  4. These sound delicious! I love oatmeal cookies. B doesn't get excited about them, though, but that just means more for me! Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Smart with the freezing thing!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was hoping you were going to share this recipe!! I never even thought to freeze the dough, such a good idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh these sound yummy! Good move on freezing the dough-I have been trying to stick to making single batches, too. Otherwise I eat them until they are gone!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh I love the pecan addition...so yummy! I will need to try these. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum!!! Such a smart thing to freeze the dough too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. They look SO good! I suddenly want cookies instead of dinner. Imagine that! Thanks for sharing and linking up for Tuesday Talk!

    ReplyDelete
  11. These look delicious! Definitely pinning for later!

    ReplyDelete