The Very Best Thick Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Raisin Cookie Recipe

These cookies are cafe quality! The kind you see in the glass case or on a large cake plate and you instantly think to yourself " I shouldn't! I am not even hungry! I can't help myself! That cookie must be eaten...AND you order 2." These are those types of cookies.

It has taken me a while to perfect the recipe and I thank my taste testers out there. It was hard work.

The selection of ingredients are very specific for a reason- either to keep the cookies shape, texture, density or appearance - otherwise you end up with Toll House, thin, crispy cookies no matter what you do. That is ok if that is what you desire.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Bread Flour
1/4 cup Cake Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
11/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1/2 cup Coconut, toasted (King Arthur sells it online or make your own)
1/4 tsp salt (For salty sweet flavor you can increase to 1/2tsp and you will taste the salt)
3 cups Oats (Not quick oats, You can substitute 1 cup of 3 with quick oats but no more)
1 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Butter, unsalted, melted
1 lg egg + 1 additional yolk  (I prefer cage free, no hormones etc... trust me yolks are darker/creamier)
1/4 cup Earth Balance Natural Shortening, softened
  (I love this product b/c it is packaged in 1/2 cup sticks and is vegan. Sold at Whole Food or you can use any shortening)

Optional but who are we kidding?
1/2 cup Dried Cherries
1/2 cup Raisins
1 cup Dark Chocolate chunks/chips (60% at least cocoa) 

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Mix in a large bowl the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and oats. (Side note, this combination of flours is one reason the cookie stays chewier & thick. For thinner, crispy cookies use 100% all purpose flour.)
3. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar with melted butter, soft shortening and vanilla. I do this by hand and not in a mixer because it is important to combine the ingredients but not introduce tons of air. The reason we introduce shortening and melt the butter is due to the melting points in the oven. The higher the melting point the less the cookie will spread and be on the thin side. I have not tried this, but I imagine you substitute margarine for both shortening and butter and yield a similar effect.
4. Add the butter/sugar mix to the flour mixture. I do this gradually so the dry ingredients do not fly all over the room. Gently, mix these ingredients. The dough will be thick and pasty looking. 
5. Lastly, stir in your dried fruit, chocolate and nuts if you like. Make sure they are evenly distributed. Nothing worse than a cookie missing one of key components...chocolate!
6.  Use nonstick baking sheets or silpats when possible. You do not want to be forced to grease or use nonstick spray as it also will cause cookies to spread.
7. For reasonable size cookies, I use a 1/4cup measuring cup to scoop the dough. This creates a rounded and evenly shaped cookies. However, for big as your face - cafe style- use a 1/2 cup measuring cup. Space evenly on the baking sheet. Using your palm slightly smash the cookie, creating a flatter, round cookie versus the mound caused by the measuring cup.
8. Place baking sheet in the center of your oven. Half way through the baking time, rotate the pan. Bake for ~13 minutes (for the 1/4cup size). I set timer for 11 min. and check for browning around the edges. You want cookie to be still slightly soft/wet in the center. When you remove from the oven, allow the cookies to continue to cook on the sheet. I do not move these to a cooling rack but allow them to cool on the pan. I also bake one sheet at a time. 

Recipe yields about 20 1/4cup size cookies.

Mixed Dough



Raw dough



Baked - Cooling on baking sheet

Dig In!