Comfort: Oatmeal raisin cookies

Sometimes you just need comfort. Know what I mean?

January’s been a hard, hard month for me. Enter these favourite oatmeal raisin cookies, which I baked while I was home last week for my granny’s funeral. They’re just the sort of comfort food you crave on cold, dark, dreary winter days – carbs and sugar and good old fashioned fill-‘er-up sustenance, crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, filled with stuff in every bite.

Need a pick-me-up? These cookies are just the ticket.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Adapted from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley

Makes about 30 large cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 cups old fashioned or thick rolled oats
2 cups raisins

Preheat the oven to 350F / 175C. Line two or three large baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick mats.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and honey.

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to the creamed mixture and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Now stop the mixer and fold in the oats and raisins by hand.

Drop the batter by large, heaping tablespoons onto the baking sheets. The cookies will spread so leave a couple of inches between each one.

Place a filled cookie sheet on each oven rack, as close as possible to the centre of the oven. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, turning the sheets once during baking; if you are baking more than one sheet at a time switch the top and bottom sheets at the same time. The cookies are done when they are golden brown and crisp around the edges, but still soft and just set in the middle. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks. Repeat with additional cookie sheets until all the cookies are baked.