Lisa, my oatmeal cookie recipe is chewy, not soft, but I've often put the dark chocolate covered raisins in them and they came out fine, the kids love them.

So do I, so I don't make them often...

Annie

Off topic, but how is your little guy doing?

This recipe posrted by Deanna makes soft cookies. We love them:

Drum roll please............

Mrs. Fields Oatmeal Cookie Recipe!
Published by Time Life books, copyright Debbi Fields 1992

Oatmeal Raisin Chews

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen without walnuts, 3 dozen with walnuts

2 1/2 c. AP flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup quick oats (I use old fashioned, they're fine)
1 c. dark brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. salted butter, softened
2 TBS. honey
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine flour, soda, salt and oats in a medium bowl and mix with wire whisk, set aside.

In a large bowl, mix sugars with electric mixer.
Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste.
Scrape down sides of bowl, then add honey, vanilla & eggs.
Mix until fully combined.
Add the flour mixture, raisins and walnuts, mix on low until just combined, do not overmix.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, 2 in. apart.
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until cookies are light golden brown.
Immediately transfer to a cool flat surface.

Pour milk. Enjoy!

OK, that last line is mine. :-)
My notes:
I never use an electric mixer.
I just put the cookies on a sheet of foil on the counter top when I remove from cookie sheet.
I almost always double the batch and fill up 2 or 3 cottage cheese container with dough and freeze it. Those will each make about 2 dozen FRESH cookies later!
This has been the only oatmeal cookie recipe I make since the first time we tried it.

Hope you like them as much as we do.
Deanna

I subbed 1/4 cup ground flax seed for some of the oats once and liked those the best. I also plumped the raisins in brandy. Yum.

Thanks, Deanna. I will try your recipe this week.
Annie, actually chewy is probably a better description of what I meant. the recipe I had tried before was pretty crispy after they completely cooled. Could you post your recipe also? Thanks for the info on the raisins. I bought a bag to use in the cookies. We'll see if they actually last that long. :)
Sheshebop, CJ is doing wonderful. His last tests came back all clear and now we only have to go once a year for the MRI. We were going every three months. Thanks to all the positive thoughts, prayers and good wishes from everyone I think we have made it!!! (Knock on wood!) Thanks for asking.
Lisa

Lisa, Great news that CJ is doing so well.

This is my favourite Oatmeal cookie.
This cookie remains soft and chewy if you do not over bake it.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Oatmeal - Best Oatmeal Cookies
==============================
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup
Packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-2/3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon
Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
1-1/2 cups rolled oats
. Preheat oven to 350 Cream butter and sugars together until light and
fluffy. Add egg and beat until smooth. Add vanilla Combined flour,
soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into butter
mixture. Add rolled oats. Roll into small balls (golf ball size) and
flatten with glass dipped in sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until
bottoms are golden. Cookie should not get brown. Cool on wire rack.

Source: Toronto Star

Lisa, what wonderful news about CJ, I still think about him occasionally and send good positive thoughts for both of you. I know it was really tough on you and on the rest of the family too, I hope you can all relax just a bit.

OK, now the cookies. This is the old recipe on the box of Quaker Oats and I've always loved it. I like the flavor of butter better than shortening, but they make the cookie crisper. Sometimes I use half of each but they aren't quite as chewy. I always use Old Fashioned Oats, because that's what I always buy, LOL. And be sure not to overbake them, they become crunchy quickly.

Quaker Oatmeal Cookies
3 cups quaker oats, (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Grease cookie sheet. Combine oats, flour, salt and baking soda. In large bowl, beat together shortening, sugars, egg, water and vanilla until creamy. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. For variety you can add shopped nuts, raisins, chocolate chips or coconut.

Annie

Here is a recipe for oatmeal peanut butter cookies which I recently gleaned from a Southern Living cookbook. I've not made them yet so I can't attest to whether they are chewy or not but the one thing that struck my as interesting about this recipe is that it does not call for flour.

I plan to make them soon. This is my shorthanded version of the recipe, I didn't copy it word for word from the book.

PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 ½ cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp corn syrup
4 ½ cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tsp baking soda

Cream sugar and butter.
Add eggs.
Add peanut butter, vanilla and corn syrup.
Stir in oats, chocolate chips and baking soda.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Also, the original recipe calls for adding a cup of red white and blue M&Ms -- it's a fourth of July recipe. I thought the m&ms would be overkill. Personally I'd be happier with just adding in more chocolate chips if I felt 1 cup weren't enough.

I read somewhere that a very rich cookie...one with lots of butter or crisco or oil will be crisper than one with less oil. then it becomes more cake-like and stays softer.
Linda c

Thanks, everybody. I have printed these and will be trying them out. Too bad nobody but me likes raisins! :)
Lisa

Lisa, the Mrs. Fields recipe that barnmom posted is definitely our ONLY oatmeal cookie recipe!

Instead of raisins, try other soft dried fruit that your family likes. Cranberries, chopped apricots, dried apples, dried blueberries, mango or papaya all work great.

I also use this recipe with choc. chips instead of the raisins (or in addition). A handful of coconut adds to the chewiness too.

Thanks for posting barnmom! I was going to go hunt for it as soon as I saw the subject!! But I'm at work and the printed recipe is at home so I would have looked for an old posting somewhere!

Deanna

I am gradually working my way through a "best" oatmeal cookie recipe thread from a while back, and I have found that I like all of them! For me, the secret to a softer cookie (but not cakelike) is to use half margarine and half butter. Best of both worlds!

I find that you sacrifice flavour if you substitute shortening or margarine for the butter. I know that not everyone feels that way.

Whether I'm baking oatmeal or chocolate chip cookies, I take them out of the oven when the centre is still soft and the cookies have not started to brown. This makes for a soft rather than crispy cookie and I still have the full butter flavour.

Ann

I made the Quaker Oat recipe the other night when I made the British Flapjacks. I use all butter and this time I used a nice heavy commercial baking pan and parchment paper. They usually get quite crisp, which I like but this time they stayed chewy. I think it was the combination of the thicker pan and the parchment paper. I made a few again last night and cooked them longer to see if they got crisp and again they were soft and chewy. I did slip the parchment paper with the cookies onto the table and let them cool on that so maybe that helped too. Interesting.

Here's one I just found by accident at a web site where I found a recipe for vanilla ice cream. As others mentioned, you can substitute cranberries or other dried fruit for the raisins.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chewie Oatmeal Raisin cookie

Some people aren't ga ga over butter flavor. I like it but it is not something I really like a lot, so I don't miss it in cookies, and using half butter gives butter's texture and flavor to the cookies along with the softness of margarine. But I also realize that margarine, which is not a totally natural product, bugs some people. For me, in most cookies when I use half butter I can still taste the buttery flavor and it is enough. All shortening, which some people also like, for me is a little too soft, and a little too greasy. Grandma made outstanding soft gingerbread cookies with Crisco, which is not something I keep in the cupboard but I scarfed up those cookies as a child.
Margarine is also less expensive than butter, so using half and half is a way to still make good cookies and save some money. Luckily I like most thrifty foods so for me it is an easy adjustment. Your mileage may vary.
I've also read that using a touch of molasses or corn syrup in the cookies helps them stay soft. I have a recipe on the docket using that technique, but I don't eat many cookies in the summer, too many great fruits around!

L, I love butter. Unfortunately. So, I do the half butter and half shortening thing sometimes, depending on my mood and the recipe, LOL.

None of it's good for me, of course, and cookies aren't exactly health food (or diet food) anyway, but I try to convince myself that oatmeal and raisins make it better, somehow.

Annie

I don't have a recipe to offer, but here is a science lesson on what parts of a recipe contribute to a cookie's texture. If you scroll down to the Chewy cookie recipe, it will point out that melted butter, darker sugars, and egg yolks, rather than whites, all contribute towards a chewier cookie. So, look for recipes with those ingredients or make substitutes accordingly.

Hope this is helpful!
Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Alton Brown Cookie episode transcript