Ain't too Proud to Beg for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

At 11 p.m. Saturday night I wanted to bake cookies. By 11 a.m. the following morning, I still wanted to bake cookies. Could I resist the urge any longer after 12 hours? I think not.

For those of you who may not know me well, there is one sweet, and one sweet only, that makes me weak in the knees. It is the cookie. At the very sight of these tasty morsels, I abandon all self control and bite into them. I simply can't say no. Perhaps my self proclaimed nickname should be "cookie monster". It would be a most accurate parallel, aside from the blue fur and puppet thing.

And what is my favorite cookie might you ask? Oatmeal raisin is the king of cookies in my book. The great thing about oatmeal raisin is that you can do so many variations of this cookie; and they're all scrumptious. For instance, white chocolate chip and cherry oatmeal cookies are delish. Or add chocolate chips to your batch of oatmeal raisin for a change.

But today, I went with the original recipe. And my twelve hours of deliberation over making these cookies was worth the wait. Ever so crisp around the edges and chewy on the inside, this batch of cookies was exactly what a cookie should be. And not a single one of them was burnt. All 3 dozen were golden to perfection.

Aside from baking this weekend, I started training to run a 5k in October. I've made the commitment to run the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in Memphis October 30th; and I'll need every week's worth of time to train these legs to run. I went to Fleet Feet Sports on Saturday morning and bought a pair of Asics. I love them! Then I proceeded to run/walk at noon. In Memphis. With the humidity. NOT SMART. But I did it! I'm excited to go through this process and run my first 5k. But I will admit that my quadriceps are on fi-ya! I can't remember the last time I had to brace myself before sitting in a chair because my legs are so sore. But "no pain no gain", right?

I went to see "Despicable Me" Sunday night. It was so cute! The characters were adorable and the movie was funny. Surprisingly the theatre was packed with people age 18-30. There were hardly any children!

I chose The Temptations "Ain't too Proud to Beg" to go with my oatmeal raisin cookies. And honey I AIN'T too proud to beg when it comes to cookies. Trust me; I've done it before, and I will do it again.  ; )




Can you believe we're almost half way through July? That's more than half way through the year! I'm shocked at how fast this year has gone by. Well, here's to another week of eats and beats!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
Julia

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) of butter, softened
1 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 Cup raisins

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop by rounded tablespoon-fulls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire wrack. Makes about 3-4 dozen, depending on the size of cookie you want.