#30. Uighur Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

....or, rather, Oatmeal Uighur Raisin Cookies....

A good friend supports your crazy plan to make 57 different cookies in one year.

An excellent friend brings you back raisins (and cheese) all the way from Xinjiang province so that one of those 57 types of cookies can have a sort of, shall we say, Uighur flair.

Meet my excellent friend, intrepid traveler, and brilliant writer, Alice Levitt.

We both enjoy tights of bright hues, dinners of multiple courses, and, obviously, staring contests of unpredictable duration.

You should follow Alice to learn more about her incredible trip to Xinjiang, but first make these cookies so you have something to nosh on while so doing.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ⅛ teaspoon allspice

• ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

• ¾ cup light brown sugar

• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 cup raisins from Xinjiang

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, and allspice. Set aside.

3. In a separate mixer bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar using a hand-held or stand-up mixer.

4. Add egg, maple syrup, and vanilla.

5. Beat dry mixture into wet mixture, one 1/4 cup at a time, until thoroughly combined. Batter will be thick like cement. It will not taste like cement.

6. Add raisins to better and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

7.  Portion golf ball-size scoops of dough approximately 1.5 inches apart on cookie sheets.  

8. Bake 15-16 minutes for soft, chewy cookies; 20 minutes (or longer) for crispy cookies.