Fran’s Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Chewy oatmeal raisin cookies

Mark’s family and friends live in the Bay Area, so we frequently make trips there to see them all. Needless to say, it’s like our second home. Just about every time we fly up, Mark’s mom, Fran, bakes her famous chewy oatmeal cookies for us. They are speckled with raisins, spicy, sweet and scrumptious. Since we are off for our second of three visits to San Francisco in three months, two of them being weddings and the third, Thanksgiving, it felt completely fitting to post this recipe. I made sure to jot this recipe down last time we were there so I could be sure to make them in my own kitchen. These cookies are thin, chewy, and full of flavor.

The original chewy oatmeal cookies during our trip in San Francisco. They were gone by the time we left.

My mother-in-law, Fran, at home in her kitchen.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 3 tablespoons of all natural crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

*optional - add nuts like almonds, pecans, or walnuts. Chocolate chips are always welcomed, too!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together until creamy. Add molasses and peanut butter and mix until combined. Gently mix in flour, salt and baking soda. Next, mix in oatmeal, raisins and coconut. Spoon small dollops of dough onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Leave enough space between cookies because these suckers spread - at least three times their size. Bake 10 minutes. Makes three dozen, or so.

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