Oatmeal is said to increase a nursing mother’s milk supply. To that end, I’ve eaten a lot of oatmeal in bowl and cookie form over the past few months. After many, many attempts, I think I’ve found the perfect recipe for chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.

Much of the credit goes to Alton Brown. When it comes to all things cooking related, he is The Man. I have a shrine to him in my kitchen. Well, not really, but I’m considering putting one in. The ironic thing is I don’t even like to cook (but I do like to bake, go figure), yet I watch his show religiously. Any discussion of cooking with people outside my household begins with “Well Alton says…”

So I took the principles of his “chewy” cookie recipe from “Three Chips for Sister Marsha” and worked them into the standard oatmeal cookie recipe from the Quaker Oats can. The result is pure oatmeal cookie yumminess:

Ingredients:

1/2 c unsalted butter (or margerine)
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (I use Penzey’s Double Strength Pure Vanilla Extract)
3/4 c bread flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I use Penzey’s Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia)
1/4 tsp table salt (not optional like the canister says)
1 1/2 c old fashioned oats
1 c raisins

Directions:

Melt butter over low heat. Beat together sugars and melted butter in a stand mixer with a flat beater (the one that’s sorta triangle shaped). Add egg and vanilla and beat well. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly pour flour mixture into mixer using low speed. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.

Lay out parchment paper on cookie trays. Scoop dough onto the trays using an ice cream scoop. Place in refrigerator and chill for 1 hour. Bake in oven at 350° for 14-17 minutes. Makes 12 – 14 large cookies.