Travel inspires some of the recipes I present in my columns and today I have an example of that.
Back in the September, my wife and I vacationed in P.E.I., where we ate very well. That included feasting on baked goods we bought at Olde Village Bakery, located in the town of North Rustico.
This quaint, seasonally operated business offers a ridiculously wonderful array of items, both savoury and sweet. They include such things as plump, sugar-sprinkled donuts, iced brownies, beauty butter tarts, amazing rolls, bread pudding and pies.
They also make splendid cookies, including oatmeal raisin, and we bought some of them to enjoy at a picnic we were having later that the day. The only problem with that plan was that they looked so good, and were so good, we started eating them in the car not long after leaving the bakery.
They tasted like the old-fashioned kind of oatmeal raisin cookies my mother, and other mothers I knew, used to make when I was kid. Packed with raisins, moist, but still crispy on the outside. Cookies that are a sweet style of comfort food.
According to several sources, this type of oatmeal cookie’s roots can be traced back to Scottish oatcakes, which have been around for centuries. Famed American cookbook author/food expert Fannie Farmer is credited with publishing the first North American-style oatmeal cookie recipe in the late 1800s. Farmer’s recipe helped popularize the cookie, and so did the Quaker Oats Company decision to start putting a recipe for the cookie on their oatmeal containers circa 1900.
Beyond nutritious rolled oats, you of course need raisins to make oatmeal raisin cookies. In my old-school recipe for them I used Sultana raisins, which are made from Sultana grapes. These smaller-sized raisins are sold at most grocery and bulk food stores and I like using them in cookies because they are tender, have a mild, sweet flavour and hold their moisture well when heated.
You can, though, use other types of raisins in the cookies, such as Thompson raisins. They are larger and darker than Sultana raisins, and have a slightly chewier texture and stronger taste, qualities that will be reflected in the cookies you make with them.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Cinnamon-spiced oatmeal raisins cookies with a pleasing, tender chew. These cookies, once baked and cooled, could be frozen, to thaw and enjoy at another time.
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 18 to 20 minutes, per sheet of cookies
Makes: 20 cookies
1 1/2 cups large-flake rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sultana or other raisins
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Place oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Now mix in the raisins.
Put butter and brown sugar in a second mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat until well combined and lightened. Now beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture and beat well to combine.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll the dough into 20 roughly equal balls (each will be about two-inches round) and place 10 on each baking sheet, spacing balls about three inches apart. Now press each ball into a 1/2-inch-thick disc.
Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown and set. Cool cookies on a baking rack to room temperature, and they are ready to enjoy.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
