Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I don't generally think to myself... mmmmm... I'd love to have an oatmeal raisin cookie right now. Usually, I'm thinking to myself... mmmm.... I'd love to have a cadbury egg right now (in the middle of november, of course), a slice of pecan pie, or a brownie. But, I do like oatmeal raisin cookies, even though I wouldn't be caught dead eating raisins by themselves. Yuck.

To me, in order to be the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie, the cookie must be soft and chewy. No crunchiness whatsoever. So... imagine my surprise when surfing through recipes for oatmeal raisin cookies, that most of the recipes call for all butter. Wouldn't a butter and shortening mix of fat make a softer, chewier cookie? I'll find out, trust me.

But, in the meantime, I found this recipe awhile back and had been meaning to try it out, but I didn't have any raisins on hand (see above note about hating raisins). So, yesterday at the grocery store I bought some raisins and tried it out.

The first batch out of the oven were too crunchy (or, is it was too crunchy?), so I decided that I must have cooked them too long. I also added cinnamon to the dough after that first batch and enjoyed the cookies with the cinnamon a lot more. The last couple of batches were softer and tasty, but I'm pretty indifferent about them. They aren't pretty at all. The flavor is good and the texture is okay (once I didn't overcook them), but they are so pale and sickly looking.

So, I'll definitely try some more oatmeal raisin cookie recipes... and will substitute some of the butter for shortening in the future.