Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

Today is an oatmeal raisin kind of day. It's cold and windy here in northern Ohio, so we will stay inside. I do have other motivations for baking cookies today; recently our neighbor helped us out of a huge jam. He is a plumber (lucky, I know!)  and we had a horribly clogged sink. Long story short, he was at our house for a couple of hours fixing the pipes. All he said that he would like in return (other than me to stop using the sink as a garbage can) was some cookies, oatmeal raisin. Those also happen to be my husband's favorite and so today I made a batch for them both. I'll share my recipe with you all here. Warning: this recipe is nowhere near diet friendly. I used white flour, a cup of crisco, and sugar! These babies are addicting, I'll apologize to your New Year's resolution later! ;) 

What you'll need:

1 c shortening

3/4 c white sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla 

2 eggs

1 1/4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 3/4 c rolled oats (not instant!)

1 1/2 c raisins

How She Does It: 

Preheat your oven to 375F. Put your raisins in a bowl and cover them with hot water. This will help the raisins puff up a bit! (Please don't skip this step!!!)

Put the shortening and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Cream them together.

While the mixer is on, add the vanilla & eggs- one at a time. Beat until fluffy. Mix in the flour, salt, cinnamon, & baking soda. 

Feel free to make a mess while adding the oats as long as you have dogs to clean it up... Or a broom. 

Drain the raisins and gently pat them dry. Then, stir them into the mix.

Drop the dough by the teaspoon full onto a silpat (or parchment paper) lined baking tray. Bake for 10-12 minutes. They will continue to cook on the sheet for a couple of minutes. Allow to cool on a rack and enjoy!

I took some to the neighbor while they were still hot and his face lit up, priceless!

This is a great recipe if you are new to baking. You can also add walnuts, m&ms, chocolate chips, other dried fruit, ect. Feel free to comment with your questions and as always...

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Selling Homemade Cookies

My husband came home yesterday and said, "babe, I need you to give me a small menu with prices of your breads, cookies, and cupcakes." I kind of gave him a sideways glance. This is it, he's finally going to pay me for all the baking I've done for him over the years, I jokingly thought to myself. Well, I was only partly right. Some of his employees came to him with the idea of asking me to sell my baked goods. Evidently a woman used to work there did that during the holidays but she retired last year. A lot of the workers take on a ton of overtime and can't find the time to bake.

Late last night I came up with a list of goodies and prices. I emailed it to Eric (he works 3rd shift currently.) Much to my surprise, I have an order for 4 loaves of bread and 4 dozen cookies worth $50 on the very first day! 

I hope that I'm not in over my head! Have any of you had a small business at home? 

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