Spiced Oatmeal Cookies With Chocolate and Raisins

Lately I can't bake enough. Yesterday's excuse was that I could bring some cookies as a thank-you for inviting us to dinner. Since we just made standard chocolate chip cookies last week, I didn't want to make them again. But still, I wanted to continue working my way through the huge bag of chips my in-laws brought. The supply was large enough to last months, but I want to use it up before heading back to the states.
So, the cookie du jour was oatmeal raisin with chocolate chips. To make things a little more exciting, I added a bit a cinnamon, nutmeg, and orange zest. The resulting cookie was chewy and a little spicy, with the orange adding a refreshing twist.

8 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cup oats
Zest of one orange
2 cups raisins
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Add the remaining half of the flour and mix until incorporated.

Add oats, raisins, and chocolate chips. Fold ingredients into the batter until evenly distributed through out the batter.

Using two standard kitchen spoons, drop cookies onto baking sheet. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from pad to a cooking rack before storing in an air tight container.

Make 4 and 1/2 dozen.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Even though the average German eats over 18 pounds of chocolate per year (American's consume only 11 and a half pounds per year) I haven't been able to find a chocolate chips here. That's why when Kevin's parents came to visit last month I asked them to bring some chocolate chips. I am now in possession of the world's largest bag of Nestle Toll House Morsels.
Not that I'm complaining. I love to make chocolate chip cookies to share with European friends. They are 100 percent American.
This weekend, however, a real apron caper occurred in my kitchen. Kevin donned an apron and decided to make a batch of cookies himself. (His first ever!) I watched the entire process, but didn't help a bit.

I'm please to report that Kevin's first foray into the world of backing was extremely successful. Following Nestlé’s recipe to a t, the cookies were perfect!