Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (thanks Renee!)

I was looking for a quick, easy & awesome recipe for the classic oatmeal raisin cookie.  My good friend Renee went into her secret recipe stash and shared this wonderful one with me!  

*This recipe yields between 1-2 dz depending on how big you make the cookies when you drop them onto the pan.  They do not spread much, so you can get more on your cookie sheet than I have shown below.

**I tripled this recipe and made 2 dz to eat, flash froze the remainder (about 3dz) and bagged & tagged them for future use!  Because this cookie will cook in such a short time they are great to have on hand for unexpected company or just for the kids snacktime!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 c packed brown sugar     

1 c margarine                      

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 c quick oats

1.5 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 c raisins

Preheat oven to 400.

1.  Beat sugar & butter until blended.

2.  Beat in egg & vanilla until smooth.

3.  Blend in oat, flour, soda & spice (I have these pre-blended by themselves in a separate bowl)

4. Stir in Raisins

5. Drop by tbsps onto greased baking sheet.  Bake 5-7 mins.

You can actually get more onto your sheet than I have here.  These cookies do not spread so I ended up making subsequent batches with about 20 smaller cookies per sheet.  I also decided that my kids don't know when to say STOP and chose to make the next batches a bit smaller.  When you can't teach them, fool them?!

I had medium size freezer bags on hand so that's what I used to bag them by 6's after flash freezing them on a baking sheet.   If you had a larger bag and larger container to store them in you do them by the dozen.  This fit well with the available rubbermaid container and bags I had on hand.  Do not pack them too full in the bag because they will push on each other and break apart.

Use a sharpie to mark instructions (400 degrees, bake 5-7 mins) on the individual bags making it easy for whomever grabs them from the freezer to whip up a batch of yummy homemade goodness!

   *(Flash freeze: put them on the cookie sheet like you would normally to cook them but instead pop it         into the freezer for 20 or 30 minutes then remove & bag easily!)