SIMPLY DELICIOUS

THE ANTIDOTE TO yesterday’s Jenny Holzer Truism might be this one:

IF YOU LIVE SIMPLY, THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT

Living simply has great appeal as the days draw down. Last week, after three days of power outage, and still appreciating the wonders of heat and electricity, I wanted to make an old-fashioned, healthy treat for our  morning garden club meeting.  I had already bought some really good oatmeal and some fine pecans, and wanted to make the World’s Best Oatmeal Cookies.  So I Googled for a recipe, and found that ALL were advertised as the Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever!  It took quite a while to check them all out, but I finally found one to that looked promising. With many thanks from Journey to Crunchville, here's the recipe:

• 1 cup butter, room temp
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 TBSP (yes, tablespoon) vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 3 cups oatmeal (old fashioned, not instant)
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. The key is to soak the raisins. This makes all the difference in the world. Beat eggs and vanilla together, then add the raisins and stir. Soak for an hour or two. Just walk by a few times and stir it while you wait.

2.      Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugars with mixer. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg. Stir the dry ingredients until well blended. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix well. Now add in the egg & raisin mixture. Then add oatmeal and chocolate chips/nuts and combine well. Form into balls on cookie sheet and chill 15 minutes so they don’t melt flat when you put them into the oven. Bake until just set (8-10 minutes). Let cool on cookie sheet for 2-5 minutes or until firm enough to transfer to wire rack.

The extra spices give an edge, but the vanilla “marinade” in the raisins made the cookies unforgettable. I’ll never go back to unmarinated raisins!

Talk about a simple pleasure.