Friends, hello.
I’ve been thinking about you so much as you send your babies off to their tiny desks in the den for school this fall. Literally, how do you do it? Our girl Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere sprayed glitter in her daughter’s hair as they prepped for the first day of school, at home. My friend Toby (hey bb!) has the sweetest desk for her biggest tot. I see you out there, making it work, making it feel special, doing what you have to do in the year of our Lord 2020.
My very humble offering for this occasion is, cookies. After school cookies because even though home is the new school… there’s still after school (and its associated snacks) to think about. If you’re suddenly a homeschool teacher, feel free to print this recipe out and hand it to your partner, or your mother-in-law, or a very friendly neighbor with a look in your eyes that says “Do this.” They’ll understand.
This recipe is lightly adapted from one of my favorite baking cookbooks – Shauna Sever’s Midwest Made. It’s a SOLID GOLD baking book. It’s very thoughtful, creative, classic, well-tested. If you don’t yet have it, put it on your list.
These cookies are essentially every cookie in one. It’s part chocolate chip, part oatmeal, part snickerdoodle. Yes there are raisins. Yes I stand by that decision.
Here’s what you’ll need for these cookies. This is a kitchen sink situation.
• softened butter, granulated and brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Cookie classics.
• flour and a whole lotta oats
• baking soda and cream of tartar and salt
• chocolate chips (though I also encourage you to use those off brand M&Ms from Trader Joe’s) and raisins.
• cinnamon and sugar for rolling the dough balls before baking
I usually make cookies with my hand beaters. It’s much easier than dragging out the stand mixer and I feel like it’s important to aerate the butter and sugar which is hard to do by hand. This is my favorite hand mixer because the first speed setting is actually low (sometimes mixer blast ingredients on the lowest setting) and it’s relatively quiet!
Now that we have that out of the way, cream together softened butter and sugars.
Add the eggs one at a time. Give the ingredients a good mix after each egg. Add a splash of vanilla, too.
In a medium bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients: your flour and oats, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Why cream of tartar? It’s an acid that will help the cookies rise. Essentially by combining baking soda and cream of tartar, we’re making baking powder. It’s science.
Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined.
Add the chocolate and raisins.
If you’re thinking of skipping the raisins, don’t! They’re good for you. They make these cookies basically a salad. Ok… not at all a salad. But I learned how to like things I didn’t think I liked (ie: raisins) by eating them in something I knew I liked (ie: cookies). So… make your kids tough it out and enjoy raisins (said the childless woman).
You’re allowed to sneak as many dough bites as you feel necessary. It’s 2020.
I always think it’s a good idea to refrigerate cookie dough to allow the liquid to absorb and the butter to rechill. If you’re in a hurry to bake these babies, you’ll just have a flatter cookie. Not a crime.
Roll the dough into generous two tablespoon cookies. Roll in cinnamon and sugar.
It’s nice to portion all the cookies at once so you’re ready to be a cookie machine with cookies in and out of the oven.
There you have it friends. Cookies for everyone. Cookies as we warrior through this year. I’m rooting for you and your little ones. You deserve the cookies too, mmmkay?
Photos with my friend Jon Melendez.
PrintEverybody’s After School Cookies
A cookie for everyone! Part chocolate chip, part oatmeal, part snickerdoodle!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 32 minutes
- Yield: about 36 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup (300g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (57g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups (250g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups (256g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup (145g) raisins
- For Coating:
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- a big pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with electric hand beaters cream butter on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed until aerated and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minutes between each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl as necessary.
- In a large bowl whisk together the oats, flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients all at once to the butter mixture and beat on low speed. Remove the bowl from the mixing stand and stir in the chocolate chips and raisins. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or transfer the dough to plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
- Just before baking, place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl whisk together sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- Form the dough into 2 tablespoon balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place each ball about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until golden and puffed for about 12 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Uncooked dough can be portioned (not rolled in sugar) and frozen in balls first on a baking sheet, then in a freezer safe bag. Bake cookies from frozen for 14 or so minutes.
Notes
I’ve had success making this recipe GF with gluten-free oats, King Arthur Flour gluten free flour blend, 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum, and an extra egg yolk.
Christa
The best cookies I’ve ever made – there is some raisinphobia in the house, so chocolate chips and M&Ms for the win. So easy to bake from pre-frozen portions – a first for me and definitely not a last.
★★★★★
Ted Johns
Good question. I was wondering the same thing!
Sarah
Made these with what I had on hand, chocolate chips and mini m&ms! What a real treat! Thank you, Joy!! <3
Dana
I made the gluten-free version of these cookies last night and was pleasantly surprised by their perfectly chewy texture! I wound up using King Arthur Flour’s gluten-free blend, and arrowroot powder instead of xanthan gum since it’s what I had on hand. May swap the raisins for walnuts in the next batch. All of this to say, thanks for sharing this recipe, Joy – it was well received in my home! :)
eliz
this combo is just about perfect…. the portion of oats to raisins to chips… perfect! I have made them twice so far and had to stash half the batter in the freezer for baking another day as it is WAAAy to easy to eat them ALL ..over a day or three.
★★★★★
Lisa
The whole family loved these! I made exactly as written. I actually think they may be my new favorite cookie! We baked the whole batch then froze half and they kept really well/thawed nicely.
Thank you!
★★★★★
Janet C
Made these today and accidentally grabbed maple extract instead of vanilla! My husband is raving about how delicious these are. I’ll certainly use vanilla next time, but the maple flavor was subtle, but there. Absolutely yummy cookies!
joythebaker
Oh what a lovely mistake! I’ll absolutely give it a try next time!
Meagan Sheeler
Can i freeze these cookies, if so, before or after baking? Grandbabies are coming from Arizona in a few weeks and want a head start on food for the week. Thanks
joythebaker
I would refrigerate the dough balls and either bake from frozen (for a few minutes longer) or thaw before baking.
Sarah
These are so yummy! My sister and I (both teachers) Zoom baked these together yesterday, a favourite activity since this pandemic took over our lives and we can’t bake together in person. She is in Canada and I am in Michigan and I can’t wait until I can safely visit home. Until then, we Zoom bake! These cookies were perfect. My daughters and I, all schooling virtually, will eat them up between Google Meets and my sis plans to pack them in her lunch as she heads back to school in person this week! We all need treats these days.
★★★★★
Emily
I have made these cookies several times already. My son loves to take them to school for himself and for friends. I often make dough at night and bake fresh cookies in the morning.
★★★★★
Mehndi
ALL the best vibes in this amazing recipe that I will be making over and over! This takes Tuesday the next level!
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
★★★★★
samantha campanini
No kids over here, but my nice neighbour is a mother of two, I’m definitely printing this and giving it to her!
preeya
Can I skip rolling them in sugar and cinnamon or will that ruin the cookie?
joythebaker
Not at all! You can skip this if you’d like!