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The Best Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

The Best Chewy Oatmeal Cookies - a real old fashioned recipe that has crispy edges and a softer chewier center. The secret here is not to over bake them or they will become brittle.
Course Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2 dozen
Author Barry C. Parsons

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar firmly packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ cup + 2 Tbsp flour
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
  • Pinch salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1 ½ cups large rolled oats
  • 2/3 cup raisins
  • ½ cup chopped pecans cashews, macadamias, slivered almonds or walnuts (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cream the butter and sugars together well. Add egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
  2. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda.
  3. Fold into the creamed mixture. When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, add the rolled oats and raisins. (and nuts if you are adding them)
  4. Roll in one inch balls and chill for for an hour or so. The dough needs to be very cold when it goes into the oven.
  5. Place the balls onto a parchment lined aluminum cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches apart.
  6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 9-10 minutes. Do not over bake or your cookies will lose their chewy texture. They may even look a little under baked when you take them from the oven. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Recipe Notes

TIPS for baking chewy cookies.
- Baking times to get chewy cookie recipes just right, can vary by a couple of minutes depending on your oven and the type of metal pan being used. I find aluminum cookie sheets best as they do not burn so readily as darker metal pans. - Experiment with baking a few cookies at a time and get the timing and temperature perfect for your oven and baking pans.
- Always chill your cookie dough. Warm dough will spread quickly on the pan and you'll have flat cookies.
- Parchment paper is best for cookie sheets. Greasing a pan can increase the likelihood of burning the bottoms of cookies, particularly in ovens that run hot.
- Chewy cookies tend to fall a little at the centers when they come out of the oven. This is perfectly normal and a cookie that is a minute under baked is always better than a cookie that is a minute over baked.