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.
Brooke R.
Hi! Any recs for raisin substitutes? Walnuts perhaps?
joythebaker
Whatever dried fruit or nut you like!
Ruby
How about dried cranberries! I love their tang next to nuts and chocolate!
Elisa
Dried raisins, currants…
Elisa
crystalized ginger…
Marla
I used dried cranberries with pecans & loved the results. Can imagine crystallized ginger would be great in these
, too.
Robin E.
Love this idea, Joy! I don’t have kids either but I am always up for cookies. And unlike a lot of people, I think chocolate and raisins are good together (They remind me of both trail mix and movie-theater Raisinets, which is never a bad thing). :-) Stay safe and I hope you have a calm week despite the looming storm!
Bridget
Thank you for doing the leg work on making gluten-free! Looking forward to trying. I, too, will try either dried cherries or cranberries instead of raisins. Sorry, not sorry.
Alene
Thank you for pointing out the gluten free info. I hadn’t even noticed it! My husband always tells me I’m oblivious.
Katy
Have you ever substituted cream of tartar for lemon juice as the acid? I know you can do that making playdough.
Amanda H.
I just took out butter for my 5th grader to try these when she finishes her first day of virtual school today (I’m working from home, and my day doesn’t get to end until 6, but thankfully she loves to bake and is excellent at doing so). She told me that she hopes virtual school never ends because she loves “going” with her dog! We made from scratch pancakes and bacon for a rare midweek treat to celebrate the beginning of the day, and cookies to ends seem the perfect touch!
★★★★★
Janice
You’re the best Joy! I’m a virtual school teacher making call after call. I emailed the recipe to my 17 year old taking virtual classes at home & now I sit here in HEAVEN taking bites between calls. She left out the raisins – ha ha!
★★★★★
Prissy
If I make them with raisons, I won’t eat them. Which would be a good thing! My new super duper double oven is coming Friday (it’s been on backorder since early June) looking forward to that.
My 5 year old is doing well with distance learning and I like it for now.
Fellow posters, what a week. Last Friday we were evacuees from a raging wildfire.
Thankfully, we are back in our home safe and sound, albeit a little hazey smoke.
Have a great week everyone and here’s to hoping for blue skies for all of us.
Sarah
It’s Shauna Sever, not Server… :)
joythebaker
Sure is!
Alene
Hope you don’t get too much “weather” this week. I’m on the west coast of Florida and, I have to admit, we sigh with relief when the hurricane goes elsewhere. Not that I wish it on others… But I’m certainly glad it’s not hitting New Orleans. Stay safe!
Anne Bonney
The is very much like my “best cookies in the world” recipe https://wp.me/pzOLZ-33u
but I use dried cherries. I am going to try this version. The idea of rolling them in cinnamon sugar intrigues!
joythebaker
Dried cherries sounds luxurious!
Debbie
I’m definitely making these cookies. May I suggest to your followers who think they don’t like raisins to check out nuts.com. Their raisins are heavenly. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
joythebaker
Thanks, Debbie! I’ve gotten raisins from the farmer’s market in California and it’s a wonder the difference an actually good raisin makes! :)
Colleen
I love your big heart… sending love to parents while a hurricane is headed your way. Cookies are the answer for everything! Hoping you stay safe and we survive this weirdest of school years.
joythebaker
Cookies for all of us, Colleen! We need them.
Jessica Camerata
I’m going to need to try these (minus the raisins I hate any fruit in my cookies!). They look SO good though.
xo Jessica
My Style Vita
joythebaker
Enjoy them, Jessica!
Chris W.
I actually just made a similar cookie from one of Ina’s cookbooks. But I love the idea of rolling them in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Will definitely try this recipe. Many times, rather than even getting out my hand mixer (don’t have a stand mixer) I use my dough whisk. It does a very good job of mixing almost everything. I highly recommend this tool. Thanks again for sharing this recipe and glad that you’re safe and well.
joythebaker
You can’t go wrong with one of Ina’s cookbooks! And you’re right – a dough whisk can put in some werk! Thanks for them comment, Chris!
Carol
Hi Joy – these cookies are so good, even my oatmeal-tolerant husband really liked them! They baked up pretty big, so the kids are looking forward to them for after (virtual) school snacks this week. Thank you!!!
joythebaker
Oatmeal tolerant! Hahhaha!
Lee R
Can I make these as bars?
joythebaker
HM… I didn’t test this recipe as a bar, but I bet it would work well. I might try it in a 9×9-inch square pan and make sure the batter inside the pan isn’t more than 1-inch thick. That might mean you have extra batter left over.
Kristen
Question just out of curiosity: if cream of tartar + baking soda basically = baking powder, why not just use baking powder? Just wondering! That’s for suggesting cookies!
Kristen
I meant THANKS for suggesting cookies.
joythebaker
I adapted this recipe Shauna Server’s cookbook and didn’t want to fuss to much with the foundation. Cream of Tartar in this high proportion will give the cookies a bit of tang (as it is an acid) and a chewy texture (as it prevents the sugar from crystalizing into crunchiness). You might not get as high a proportion of cream of tartar in baking powder so that’s why we’re adding both cream of tartar and baking soda.