Brown Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My grandma was a wonderful baker. Her house always smelled like fresh baked bread. When you visited grandma, you could count on her having a cookie jar full of a variety of her homemade cookies. You never knew what kind of cookie you would pull out of the cookie jar, but it didn't matter because they were all good. These brown butter oatmeal raisin remind me of Grandma's chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, I think that's why I like them so much. I hope you will too! 

Step 1:    

First, we brown the butter. Browning the butter gives the cookie and richer, deeper, buttery flavor. In  a large, deep sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes – it will foam and come up to the top of the pan, so make sure your pan is larger than you think it needs to be. Once it has foamed, stir and see if the butter is a deep golden-brown color, if it’s not, let it simmer for another minute or two. Remove pan from heat and let cool to luke-warm. 

Step 2:  

When your butter has cooled, combine butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla, mixing until smooth.

Step 3:

Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Technically, it is good to sift all of your dry ingredients together first, but I just threw them all in without sifting, (I am pretty sure that is what my Grandma would have done - you can too!).

Step 4:   Add the raisins and chocolate chips. Okay, I know these are supposed to be oatmeal raisin cookies, but I didn't quite have enough raisins, and I always enjoy finding a chocolate chip in a cookie, so I used both raisins and chocolate chips. 

Oh My! Look at that beautiful cookie dough! 

Step 5:  Now that your dough is combined and ready to bake, it's time to talk about a little thing I call The Test Cookie. Yep, just one lone little cookie on a baking sheet. 

Why bake a test cookie? The ingredient in baking that is the most variable is FLOUR. All flour has a different water content – this means that flour in Florida or Utah or California may absorb less or more liquid than it would in Colorado. If the water content of the flour is high, then it will absorb less liquid, which means you will have to increase the amount of flour you use in the recipe. If the water content is low, then it will absorb more liquid, which means you would need to decrease the amount of flour that you use in the recipe. Most of my cookie recipes call for 2 ½ cups of flour – that is because my flour generally has a higher water content here in Colorado.  There is no way to know what the water content of your flour is – it differs from bag to bag and brand to brand – you just have to go off of the texture of the cookie. Thus, the need for the Test Cookie! Mix up your dough, then bake just one cookie (I know, it's really hard to just bake one!).  If the cookie is flat, add another ½ cup of flour and then bake another cookie. If it is still too flat, add another ¼ cup and test again. If your cookie stays in the drop shape (doesn’t really flatten out at all or as much as you would like it to), you’ve put too much flour in. If this happens, try mixing in a tablespoon or two of milk to the cookie dough. This is an important step that takes patience, but it's worth it to get your texture just right - I promise! 

Step 6:  Well, was that test cookie delicious, or what? Now it's time to bake a whole pan. Drop your dough onto the pan by heaping tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop). 

Step 7: Bake at 350° on ungreased cookie sheet for 9 to 10 minutes. Your cookies will seem under-baked - that's good! Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

And that's it! While these cookies are delicious warm, I think the texture gets better the next day - they are chewier and it's like all of the flavors have time to meld. I store these cookies in a ziplock bag or air-tight container. They freeze beautifully too. I hope you enjoy them! You will find the full recipe below.  

Brown Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies  

1 ½ cups butter, browned (see directions)

2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs                                                        

2 tsp vanilla                                                                   

3 cups flour                                                  

2 cups quick oats

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 ½ cups raisins

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

In  a large, deep sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Let simmer for about 5 minutes – it will foam and come up to the top of the pan – at this point, stir and see if the butter is a deep golden-brown color, if it’s not, let it simmer for another minute or two. Remove pan from heat and let cool to luke-warm. In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add raisins – I like to chop the raisins so they are smaller, but this is optional. Drop onto pan by heaping tablespoons (or use a cookie scoop). Bake at 350° on an ungreased cookie sheet for 9-10 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. This is a big batch - makes 4-5 dozen.