Okay so yesterday I was just scrolling through some baking ideas, you know, thinking about something kinda sweet but not super fancy. Kept seeing these “country cookies” pop up – they looked simple and homey, the kind my grandma might have made. Figured I’d give ’em a shot.
First thing: scrounged around the kitchen for stuff. I wanted traditional, right? Nothing too weird.
- Butter: Had a couple of sticks. Left ’em on the counter to soften up because nobody wants hard butter fights later.
- Sugar: Regular old white sugar. Got my measuring cups.
- Flour: Plain all-purpose, no fancy stuff. Used a big bowl.
- Eggs: Grabbed two large ones from the fridge.
- Vanilla: Found the bottle hiding in the spice cupboard.
- Salt: Just a pinch to balance the sweet.
- Raisins: Found some hiding in the pantry, past their prime but still usable.
- Oats: Had a nearly-full bag of rolled oats. Old-fashioned style.
Started easy. Creamed the butter and sugar together. Just took my handheld mixer, popped it into that big bowl, and let it rip. Mixed it until it got kinda pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides a couple times. Took maybe 3 minutes?
Threw in the eggs one at a time. Mixed each one in completely before adding the next. Then splashed in that vanilla. Smelled pretty good already!
Getting Down to Business
In a different bowl, I whisked up the dry guys: flour, that little pinch of salt. Made sure they were friends.
Then it was time to combine. Slowly poured the dry mixture into the wet stuff in the big bowl. Didn’t dump it all at once, just little bits, mixing constantly on low speed. Learned my lesson from past flour explosions!
Once that flour was mostly in, stopped the mixer. Pulled out my spatula. Folded in the oats and those slightly questionable raisins by hand. Felt like tough cookie dough – needed some muscle! Got it all evenly mixed.
Preheated the oven like it asks, setting it to around 350°F (175°C). Got out my trusty old baking sheets. Didn’t bother with parchment paper this time, just gave the sheets a quick wipe and a tiny smear of butter so they wouldn’t stick horribly.
Now, shaping. Grabbed little blobs of dough, maybe a heaping tablespoon each. Rolled ’em quickly into rough balls in my hands and plopped ’em down on the baking sheet. Didn’t fuss about perfect circles. Left some decent space between ’em because I know cookies like to spread out and party while baking.
Into the Fire
Slid the trays into the oven. Set my timer for about 12 minutes to start. Peeked around 10 minutes – they looked pale. Left ’em in. By 12-13 minutes, the edges had just started turning that nice golden brown. Took ’em out!
This part is key: I DID NOT move them right away. Just pulled the trays out and let the cookies sit there for 5 minutes. They firm up a bunch as they cool on the hot tray. Learned that the hard way years ago when half my cookies broke.
After 5 minutes, carefully slid the spatula under each one and moved them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Final thoughts? Real easy. Used basic stuff, the steps were straightforward, no special tricks. Taste? Exactly what I wanted – simple, homey, chewy from the oats, sweet with bits of raisin. Perfect dunking-in-tea material. Grandma style achieved. Took maybe 30 minutes active time? Baking the batches took longer of course, but hey, smells nice and got cookies!
