Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray one cookie sheet with spray oil or line with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and baking soda.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly.

Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture. Mix only enough to incorporate flour. Do not over mix. Fold in the raisins.

The dough can be baked immediately but I find I have better results when the dough is chilled for at least an hour.

Form cookies by dropping a rounded teaspoon of dough on the prepared cookie sheet two inches apart.

Bake until light brown around the edges, about 12-15 minutes, depending on cookie size.

Over baking is the biggest problem with most soft and chewy cookie recipes. Your oven temperature and the type of cookie sheet you use will vary the baking times considerably. When they are golden brown around the edges is the time to remove them from the oven. Thinking they are a little underdone is probably a good thing. Experiment by baking only a couple of cookies at a time to see what the perfect baking time is for your oven. If your experimental batch spreads too much try turning the heat up to 375 degrees F.

Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Store in an airtight container. These cookies freeze well too.