A cookie afternoon

I made oatmeal raisin cookies yesterday afternoon. And H helped. She did great dumping the measuring cups into the bowl. And she loved seeing how everything came together. I had two little faces peering into the oven while during the baking time. The girls were chanting "cookie cookie". And for three and almost two years old, they did very well waiting. Please note, that I was there making sure no one came in contact with the oven. And they even waited a few minutes more for them to cool off so they could eat them. Success! 

These were really great cookies! On my quest to find a great oatmeal cookie recipe, I might have already found it. Flaky and crisp on the outside, just enough. Soft on the inside, but not too much. Everything I love in a cookie. Not too sweet, not too doughy. Pretty fantastic. And the next day, they were super soft and rich, but not mushy.  So cool for cookies that are great right out of the oven to be great "next day" cookies too!  

This is the second time that I have tried this particular recipe. I found it online, labeled "the best oatmeal raisin cookie" - so I thought that would be a great place to start. I made it a few weeks ago... And well the results were quite different. It was "user error" - a kitchen boo boo. The key in this recipe is soaking the raisins in the egg/vanilla mixture for an hour beforehand. I was going to do that, but at the last minute decided to not use raisins, so no soaking. So I forgot to get the eggs out of the fridge. The dough seemed a little too crumbly. The recipe said that it would be a little dry, but this was ridiculous. Almost sand-like. So I added "more" egg and a little water - out of desperation to make it actual dough consistency. And as I put the eggs back, I saw the eggs. Oops. So for the next batch - the "very little egg" batch was in the oven - I added eggs. But a little to much. Because the next batch was a little eggy tasting. But even with a little egg and too much egg, I could taste the beauty in the recipe. 

So, I'm glad that the next time I made them, they were yummy!  But why did I do this?  Now I have the great cookies, that are so tasty...in my kitchen...and I'm eating them...lots of them. They are so light and melty - with that two sticks of butter I used! 
Making a great oatmeal cookie. A great idea. And...not so great idea!