I ask you to beat the butter and sugars together for quite some time. If you’re in a pinch and only have one or the other, that will be fine to substitute for 100%. I call for a mix of each dark and light brown sugar and I think it helps provide a nice caramelized flavor and perfect chew. Just adjust the salt to add about 1/2-1 teaspoon. Salted butter is key, but if you don’t have it, unsalted will certainly do. You could absolutely use a regular softened butter if it’s say, a hot summer’s day, and the butter is extremely soft. You can see what I mean in the first image above. The butter should return to a solid texture and opaque color when it has cooled enough. I ask you to melt and fully cool the butter so that we are in completely control of the softness. Below I’ve laid out each step so you can see for yourself how the dough comes together and what it should look like at each step. There are a few techniques I lay out in this recipe that are important to the outcome. She says they’re the best oatmeal raisin cookies she’s ever had. My cousin Portia was one of my testers, and she’s already made this recipe 4x before I’ve even written this post up. I needed other people to try the flavors and test the method for consistency. The reason being that I couldn’t decide if I was being too indulgent with the flavor of these cookies.
I’ve been working on this recipe pretty much since COVID-19 isolation began, and have asked a few friends to recipe test for me. These cookies are the definition of decadent for just that reason. I’m not even a big fan of butterscotch, so don’t worry, it’s just a nod to the flavor. In my recipe I use egg yolks and melted butter to create an almost-butterscotch flavor. Most recipes you come across for home baked end up being too dry, too much chew from the raisin, or just overall lackluster. You know the kind: chewy, flavorful…actually good. This recipe was born out of the desire to create super moist, bakery style oatmeal raisin cookies at home. Deliciously decadent describes my take on an oatmeal raisin cookie, perfectly. They’re certainly classic, however they are rich and buttery and so special. Not because I couldn’t come up with “oatmeal raisin cookies”, but because I really wanted to emphasize that these are no ordinary oatmeal cookie. I went back and forth on what to title these cookies for quite some time.