Oatmeal Raisin Cookies I

"I'm changing my rating to a 2 star. I hadn't made these cookies in a while, and I forgot about my notes in my first review below. I didn't add the extra flour and baking powder this last time and th..." See moreis cookies ran like crazy! I now understand why some where so disappointed. The extra flour REALLY makes the difference. Without this alteration, the original recipe is not good. Hope this helps! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In an attempt to make "perfect" cookies the first try, I read many of the reviews here. Guess what! It worked! These cookies are fantastic. I did soak the raisins by putting them in a colander, placing the colander in a saucepan and running hot tap water over them enough to cover them. I let them soak while preparing the dough. Another concern expressed in other reviews was that these cookies came out flat and ran into each other. To try and avoid this happening, I used 1/4 cup more flour and added 1/2 tsp. baking powder. These did not run at all, and are slightly poofy. "

"This is a great recipe! I've read most reviews about the recipe and the most common concerns seem to be that the cookie spreads too thinly when baked and that it is too sweet or bland. I have cut down..." See more the sugar to 1/2 cup each of brown and white sugar and added 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp of ground allspice. Also feel free to add more cinnamon if you like. This made the cookies very flavorful. The trick is, however, mixing the dough by HAND and NOT overworking it. Follow the recipe and incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet in three stages. Do not use a mixer or you will overwork the dough and get flat cookies. I have also soaked the raisins in hot water and drained them in a sieve prior to adding them at the end. Bake the cookies on a cookie sheet at 350 or lower depending on your oven (I baked mine at 325 because my oven was too hot). Regardless at which temperature you bake them, make sure you keep an eye on them after 5-8 minutes and take them out when the edges are golden brown. I had no problems baking these or removing them from the pan. They are moist, flavorful, and delicious. Thanks for a great recipe! This one's a keeper."

"for those folks who had issues with the cookies sticking to the pan, etc...since these cookies are made with butter, you need to use a non-insulated shiny cookie sheet. This will allow the whole cook..." See moreie to bake without the butter melting first and the cookie turning out flat and crunchy. (If you substitute shortening for the butter, you can use an insulated pan without a problem, too.)"