On impluse some time back I tried out a box Sunmaid Oatmeal Raisin
Cookie Mix, primarily because it would be a quick and easy way for me to
see if my childhood boredom with oatmeal raisin cookies was still about.
I added a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg to
the mix and was quite surprised with how good the cookies were. Having
those put me on a quest for "building" my own recipe for the cookies,
but with using up the Hersheys mini cinnamon chips and chopped pecans I
had on hand.

My recipe for making five dozen 2-1/2" ones is below, and although good,
the cookies definately are so "cinnamony" that I will eliminate the tsp.
of ground cinnamon if using the chips next time, but I haven't a clue
what to change so that the cookies bake up chewy, rather than as crumbly
as they did. I always bake at least four dizen cookies at a time, to
share with neighbor children or to take aboard for my Marines, but these
are a bit of a crumbly mess to share well. What can be changed to this
recipe, other than the baking temp or the oven time that I did fool
around with? (I'm hoping this keryboard's return key "takes" so as not
to have this post all jumbled together.)

OATMEAL RAISIN NUT COOKIES
1-1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup pascked brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 whole egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 cups quick oats
1 cup mini cinnamon chips
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans
Heat oven to 375F. and cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg, vanilla
and almond extracts. Combine flours, baking soda, salt and ground
spices. Add those dry ingredients to wet, and mix well. Stir in oats
and chopped nuts. Roll dough into four 1-1/2" logs to wrap in wax paper
and refrigerate for a few hours; cut 1/2 to 3/4" slices for then
flattening a bit to bake.

I did try them at 10, 11, 12 and 13 minutes, as well as turning the oven
up to 400 degrees to try having them bake up with just a hint of
browning 'round the edges, but each tray of these cookies comes out just
too crumbly. What can be changed so that they come out chewy,
preferrably, or at least so that they hold together?

Picky ~JA~

>On impluse some time back I tried out a box Sunmaid Oatmeal Raisin
>Cookie Mix, primarily because it would be a quick and easy way for me to
>see if my childhood boredom with oatmeal raisin cookies was still about.
>I added a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg to
>the mix and was quite surprised with how good the cookies were. Having
>those put me on a quest for "building" my own recipe for the cookies,
>but with using up the Hersheys mini cinnamon chips and chopped pecans I
>had on hand.
>
>My recipe for making five dozen 2-1/2" ones is below, and although good,
>the cookies definately are so "cinnamony" that I will eliminate the tsp.
>of ground cinnamon if using the chips next time, but I haven't a clue
>what to change so that the cookies bake up chewy, rather than as crumbly
>as they did. I always bake at least four dizen cookies at a time, to
>share with neighbor children or to take aboard for my Marines, but these
>are a bit of a crumbly mess to share well. What can be changed to this
>recipe, other than the baking temp or the oven time that I did fool
>around with? (I'm hoping this keryboard's return key "takes" so as not
>to have this post all jumbled together.)
>
>OATMEAL RAISIN NUT COOKIES
>1-1/4 cup softened butter
>3/4 cup pascked brown sugar
>1/2 cup granulated white sugar
>1 whole egg
>1 tsp. vanilla extract
>1/2 tsp. almond extract
>1 cup white flour
>1/2 cup wheat flour
>1 tsp. baking soda
>1/2 tsp. salt
>1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
>1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
>3 cups quick oats
>1 cup mini cinnamon chips
>1 cup raisins
>1 cup chopped pecans
>Heat oven to 375F. and cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg, vanilla
>and almond extracts. Combine flours, baking soda, salt and ground
>spices. Add those dry ingredients to wet, and mix well. Stir in oats
>and chopped nuts. Roll dough into four 1-1/2" logs to wrap in wax paper
>and refrigerate for a few hours; cut 1/2 to 3/4" slices for then
>flattening a bit to bake.
>
>I did try them at 10, 11, 12 and 13 minutes, as well as turning the oven
>up to 400 degrees to try having them bake up with just a hint of
>browning 'round the edges, but each tray of these cookies comes out just
>too crumbly. What can be changed so that they come out chewy,
>preferrably, or at least so that they hold together?
>
> Picky ~JA~
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Your dough is too dry. I would either cut back on the amount of oatmeal, 3
cups is an awful lot considering you only have 1 1/4 cups of butter and 1 egg
for your wet ingredients, or you could try adding another egg to the recipe.

DJS0302 offers....
>Your dough is too dry. I would either cut
>back on the amount of oatmeal, 3 cups is
>an awful lot considering you only have 1
>1/4 cups of butter and 1 egg for your wet
>ingredients, or you could try adding
>another egg to the recipe.
Yes, I have already penciled in the second egg, but I hadn't considered
the oatmeal being too much. Thank you for the minute of thought. This
does sound reasonable, as it now seems clearly to be among the oatmeal's
chunks of solidity that the cookies crumble apart.

Picky ~JA~

In article >,
ospam (DJS0302) wrote:

> Your dough is too dry. I would either cut back on the amount of oatmeal, 3
> cups is an awful lot considering you only have 1 1/4 cups of butter and 1 egg
> for your wet ingredients, or you could try adding another egg to the recipe.

Would oatmeal have more of a dryness factor than an equal quantity of
flour? I'd think the protein in the white flour might absorb and thereby
retain more liquid.

The OP said that she already "penciled in" a second egg, but I'm not
sure if it was actually used in the too-dry recipe. So, we have:
dry:
3 cups quick oats
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour

wet:
1-1/4 cups softened butter
2 eggs

I have a great cookie recipe that uses
dry:
2 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups white flour

wet:
1 cup soft butter
2 eggs

My recipe isn't for oatmeal raison, to the proportion of oats:flour is
lower. Very similar: the OP's recipe uses 1/2 cup more dry, but 1/4 cup
more butter. My recipe is very moist and chewy. If it's a matter of the
OP's recipe being too dry, it's not by much. Maybe take out 1/4 cup of
the oatmeal?

I noted something else in the original post:
> I did try them at 10, 11, 12 and 13 minutes, as well as turning the oven
> up to 400 degrees to try having them bake up with just a hint of
> browning 'round the edges, but each tray of these cookies comes out just
> too crumbly. What can be changed so that they come out chewy,
> preferrably, or at least so that they hold together?

If cookies look done in the oven, they're overbaked.

--
to respond, change "spamless.invalid" with "optonline.net"
please mail OT responses only

Scott > wrote in
:

> In article >,
> ospam (DJS0302) wrote:
>
>> Your dough is too dry. I would either cut back on the amount of
>> oatmeal, 3 cups is an awful lot considering you only have 1 1/4 cups
>> of butter and 1 egg for your wet ingredients, or you could try adding
>> another egg to the recipe.
>
> Would oatmeal have more of a dryness factor than an equal quantity of
> flour? I'd think the protein in the white flour might absorb and
> thereby retain more liquid.
>
> The OP said that she already "penciled in" a second egg, but I'm not
> sure if it was actually used in the too-dry recipe. So, we have:
> dry:
> 3 cups quick oats
> 1 cup white flour
> 1/2 cup wheat flour
>
> wet:
> 1-1/4 cups softened butter
> 2 eggs
>
> I have a great cookie recipe that uses
> dry:
> 2 cups quick cooking oats
> 2 cups white flour
>
> wet:
> 1 cup soft butter
> 2 eggs
>
> My recipe isn't for oatmeal raison, to the proportion of oats:flour is
> lower. Very similar: the OP's recipe uses 1/2 cup more dry, but 1/4
> cup more butter. My recipe is very moist and chewy. If it's a matter
> of the OP's recipe being too dry, it's not by much. Maybe take out 1/4
> cup of the oatmeal?
>
> I noted something else in the original post:
>> I did try them at 10, 11, 12 and 13 minutes, as well as turning the
>> oven up to 400 degrees to try having them bake up with just a hint of
>> browning 'round the edges, but each tray of these cookies comes out
>> just too crumbly. What can be changed so that they come out chewy,
>> preferrably, or at least so that they hold together?
>
> If cookies look done in the oven, they're overbaked.
>

Plumping the raisins in a little hot water or Brandy (my choice). Letting
them soak for 20-30 minutes would help with the dryness some, plus add
flavour.

--
Once during Prohibition I was forced to live for days on nothing but food
and water.
--------
FIELDS, W. C.

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 20:01:53 -0700,
(Richard's ~JA~) wrote:

> Having
> those put me on a quest for "building" my own recipe for the cookies,
> but with using up the Hersheys mini cinnamon chips and chopped pecans I
> had on hand.

I use the traditional Toll House recipe and add a 1/2 cup of
rolled oats to it.


Practice safe eating - always use condiments

Along with someone elses comment, lid (hahabogus)
Scott offers....
>Plumping the raisins in a little hot water
>or Brandy (my choice). Letting them soak
>for 20-30 minutes would help with the
>dryness some, plus add flavour.
The Sunmaid box mix had a bag of very moist to drippy raisins, so I
definately will soak mine next time, thanks!

As to the cookies not looking done while in the oven, yet being done:
Mine weren't even a teensy bit browned 'round the edges when I added one
minute at a time per tray. I do expect cookies removed from the oven to
cook a bit more with their residual heat, but are you saying that these
extremely pale-beige cookies should look absolutely raw when done? All
others I've seen are far browner in overall appearance than mine were,
and I was judging take-out time by waiting for only a mere tinge of
browning around.

From all I've learned with these thoughtful replies, methinks next time
will see 2 eggs, 1/2 cup less oatmeal, and definately well soaked
raisins. Everyone....thank you ever so much!

Picky ~JA~

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 20:01:53 -0700,
(Richard's ~JA~) wrote:

>On impluse some time back I tried out a box Sunmaid Oatmeal Raisin
>Cookie Mix, primarily because it would be a quick and easy way for me to
>see if my childhood boredom with oatmeal raisin cookies was still about.
>I added a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg to
>the mix and was quite surprised with how good the cookies were. Having
>those put me on a quest for "building" my own recipe for the cookies,
>but with using up the Hersheys mini cinnamon chips and chopped pecans I
>had on hand.
>
>My recipe for making five dozen 2-1/2" ones is below, and although good,
>the cookies definately are so "cinnamony" that I will eliminate the tsp.
>of ground cinnamon if using the chips next time, but I haven't a clue
>what to change so that the cookies bake up chewy, rather than as crumbly
>as they did. I always bake at least four dizen cookies at a time, to
>share with neighbor children or to take aboard for my Marines, but these
>are a bit of a crumbly mess to share well. What can be changed to this
>recipe, other than the baking temp or the oven time that I did fool
>around with? (I'm hoping this keryboard's return key "takes" so as not
>to have this post all jumbled together.)
>
>OATMEAL RAISIN NUT COOKIES
>1-1/4 cup softened butter
>3/4 cup pascked brown sugar
>1/2 cup granulated white sugar
>1 whole egg
>1 tsp. vanilla extract
>1/2 tsp. almond extract
>1 cup white flour
>1/2 cup wheat flour
>1 tsp. baking soda
>1/2 tsp. salt
>1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
>1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
>3 cups quick oats
>1 cup mini cinnamon chips
>1 cup raisins
>1 cup chopped pecans
>Heat oven to 375F. and cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg, vanilla
>and almond extracts. Combine flours, baking soda, salt and ground
>spices. Add those dry ingredients to wet, and mix well. Stir in oats
>and chopped nuts. Roll dough into four 1-1/2" logs to wrap in wax paper
>and refrigerate for a few hours; cut 1/2 to 3/4" slices for then
>flattening a bit to bake.
>
>I did try them at 10, 11, 12 and 13 minutes, as well as turning the oven
>up to 400 degrees to try having them bake up with just a hint of
>browning 'round the edges, but each tray of these cookies comes out just
>too crumbly. What can be changed so that they come out chewy,
>preferrably, or at least so that they hold together?
>
> Picky ~JA~

Here's Quaker's Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe:

oatmeal raisin cookies

ingredients 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine, softened
3 tablespoons granulated sugar or 2 tablespoons heat-stable sugar
substitute equal to 3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup egg substitute or 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate (thawed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1-1/2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/3 cup raisins, chopped

preparation 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray cookie sheet with
cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugar or sweetener until
creamy. Add egg substitute; beat well. Add applesauce, apple juice
concentrate and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda,
cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Bill

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 23:05:25 -0700,
(Richard's ~JA~) wrote:

>DJS0302 offers....
>>Your dough is too dry. I would either cut
>>back on the amount of oatmeal, 3 cups is
>>an awful lot considering you only have 1
>>1/4 cups of butter and 1 egg for your wet
>>ingredients, or you could try adding
>>another egg to the recipe.
>Yes, I have already penciled in the second egg, but I hadn't considered
>the oatmeal being too much. Thank you for the minute of thought. This
>does sound reasonable, as it now seems clearly to be among the oatmeal's
>chunks of solidity that the cookies crumble apart.
>
> Picky ~JA~

You could also try rolled oats. They are less likely to soak up the
wet ingredients as much as the quick. Maybe try a 1/2 quick to 1/2
rolled and also reduce the amount as previously noted.


Denise, Brian & Wyatt (May 31, 02)

How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 20:01:53 -0700,
(Richard's ~JA~) wrote:

>3/4 cup pascked brown sugar

You could also use dark brown sugar, which has more molasses in it
(moister) than the medium or light brown sugar.


Denise, Brian & Wyatt (May 31, 02)

How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?