I made the Cooks Illustrated oatmeal raisin cookie recipe or the one
from the great Simply Recipes site (looks the same to me).

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archive...in_cookies.php

They came out dry and didn't spread. I had some random thoughts but
wonder if anyone has any ideas since I'm really not familiar with
oatmeal raisin cookies.

I used "extra thick" organic oats and not ye olde Quaker Oats. It was
still 3 cups, but maybe they sucked up more moisture or something.

I had 2 baking sheets and definitely the bottom sheet spread more than
the bottom. I turned on the convection oven after the first baking and
it seemed to make the cookies spread a little better. I'm thinking of
only doing one layer next time, but 2 might work with the convection.

Any other factors I should look out for? This recipe seems to produce
good results for others, so I'm not willing to give up on it yet and
assume it's something I'm doing like using the wrong oats.