Mini Raisin Surprise

The next recipe I chose was only extremely simple, but it helped with our daily life too. I have two younger sisters, twins, who are 3 and a half. Keeping them happy is a tough task, even if they are just little kids. They constantly make a mess of everything, ESPECICALLY food. My mom is a really big "health freak" and likes to eat a lot of healthier foods. One of the snacks she gives the girls on a daily is raisins. So, I thought I'd take one of their favorite snacks and add it into a delicious cookie from a recipe in my book.                                  

The cookies are supposed to come out relatively small in size, something big enough to get a lot of flavor but small and helpful for things such as younger children. The recipe was

1 cup butter, softened

                                                                                  ¾ cup packed brown sugar

                                                                                  ½ cup sugar

                                                                                  2 eggs

                                                                                  1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 ¾ cups raisins

Supposedly, the pumpkin spice added a little more flavor to the cookie, probably where the “surprise” part comes in. But, the first step was to cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until they became light and fluffy (p. 300). Once you beat in the eggs, combine the flour, baking soda, and pumpkin spice (I love everything pumpkin) gradually add to the mixture while stirring.

After adding in the raisins in the mixture and letting it sit for a minute, take out a pan and lay down some baking sheets, then add the tablespoons of mixture 2 inches apart from each other (p.301). Slightly flatten the dough with your hands, and then bake them at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

The pictures below is what the cookies looked like a little after they came out of the oven, and also, as you can see, it’s small enough for my younger sisters to munch one and not make too big of a mess. The cookies were gone in less than two days. They are so delicious, and the pumpkin added just the right amount of flavor!

My question for this one was if maybe I could add oatmeal to the mix, and how much would I need to add? My sister, Rheann (the one in the picture) LOVES oatmeal. We’re always buying more and more because she adores it. Would it be alright to add to the mixture, and how much?