Chewy oatmeal cookies with chocolate covered raisins

Don't love raisins in your cookies? Try using chocolate covered raisins and adding chocolate chunks.

My nieces hosted us at their new apartment for a Valentine's Day lunch last month and, of course, I had to ask, "what do you want me to bring for dessert?" I thought they might ask for some decadent brownie or lava cake or apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

To my surprise, they both wanted oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And to my dismay, they asked for the cookies to be made with raisins. Raisins. OMG, who are these people and did they learn nothing from me? I despise raisins. The only thing I dislike more than raisins are raisins in cookies. They're mushy and too sweet. They're grapes gone wrinkly. I mean, they're raisins.

But try as I might, it's hard to get rid of 22 years of unconditional love. The raisins tested those boundaries, let me tell you. But in the end, I conceded. Sort of.

I honestly had every intention of adding raisins (shudder) to the batter. Really. Except when I went to Target to pick up the aforementioned "wrinkled grapes," I couldn't find any. They weren't in the baking aisle and I had no concept of where else they could possibly be. And, conveniently, there was no Target employee milling around who I could ask. Really. But in the candy aisle, I did find a package of Raisinets. Needless to say, I've never bought Raisinets (why would I?). But they were chocolate-covered raisins and that seemed close enough.

So I tried out this recipe, added chopped up Hershey kisses (you can use any chocolate chips or chocolate chunks), divided the dough in half and added the Raisinets to one half. I kept the other half pure and raisin(et)-free. It was genius.

I loved these cookies with just the chocolate chunks. They were crisp at the edges and satisfyingly moist and chewy in the middle. I can't tell you what the Raisinet half tasted like but my nieces and one of their boyfriends affirmed my "genius" assessment and said they were delicious. Whew. My love for them remains intact. But let's not get that close to testing those boundaries again.

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin(et) Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Being Spiffy

1 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 3.4-ounce package vanilla instant pudding mic
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/4 cups flour
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips (mini, regular or chunks)
1 cup Raisinets

1. On the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars. Add vanilla pudding mix and beat until combined.

2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated.

3. Add in dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add oatmeal, chocolate chips, and Raisinets, mixing with a wooden spoon.

4. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls, cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.

5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

6. Evenly space frozen dough balls on baking sheets and bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden and middles are no longer shiny or raw-looking. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

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