Ina Garten of "Barefoot Contessa" fame called and asked me if there was any way to improve upon her Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookie recipe. Of course I told Ina that her cookies were fabulous... but I did mention to her the addition of chocolate chips, more vanilla extract and a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt on top before baking them would really take them over the top. (Ina didn't really call me, but if she had I would have told her about my additions!)
The sprinkling of kosher salt on top of these cookies is a must! We all know how popular the salty/sweet combination is now - and this is fantastic.
I got the idea for the salt from cookies I used to buy on Martha's Vineyard called Kayak Cookies - cookies made by a woman who summered on Cape Cod and made them available in the region. She made these big fat oatmeal cookies with salt on top for her long kayaking trips and started producing them commercially.
This is clearly a cheat day recipe and I didn't calculate the calorie count but they are probably around 200. To me, it's a home made cookie and while it does contain sugar - it's much healthier than anything you can buy in the grocery store with a hundred ingredients - most of which you cannot even pronounce. You can use whole wheat flour in this recipe if you like. For the show I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat because I wanted to use up a small bag of flour I had.
At the end of the show I froze the left over batter in a plastic container, which is fine. However, I failed to mention that I often scoop out the cookies on a sheet and freeze them with the salt on top. Once frozen I place the cookies in a ziplock bag and store them for months. When I want some fresh cookies, I place them on a cookie sheet, let them thaw for about 20 minutes and cook them in the oven at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pecans (or walnuts) roasted in the oven or a pan until toasted - about 5 minutes or so
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour or wheat flour or a combination of the two
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling on top of cookies)
3 cups old-fahioned oatmeal (rolled oats)
1 1/2 cups raisins (you can use golden yellow if you like)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (10oz - 1 bag)
Link to Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Video
