Rice Krispies Raisin Cookies

I had some leftover raisins from these cookies and had no idea what to make with them. After thinking about it for a bit, I remembered a cookie that I used to make while in middle and high school, in my earlier baking days. I knew I had the recipe in a notebook that I started after taking home economics in eighth grade (and because I find it impossible to throw anything away I still have that notebook).

I found it quickly and thought my writing and the spots of butter/oil/who knows what was rather telling of this recipe's age and how much use it got.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I made these cookies, and I don't know why they fell out of my go-to rotation. For folks who don't have or like raisins, chocolate chips can be substituted for the raisins. I used both for this batch, and I doubled it, although in hindsight, a single batch would have been plenty.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Stir together flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Set aside.

2. In large electric mixer bowl, beat together sugars and margarine until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in crisp rice cereal and raisins.


3. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake at 350° F about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks. Store in airtight container.


Source: Kellogg's Kitchens

Oatmeal Raisin Toffee Cookies

When I was looking for recipes to make for Meghan's birthday treat, I came across two with toffee that sounded delicious. While I opted to make the Toffee Almond Sandies to send to her, I decided I needed to try the others at some point in the future, too.

I made them a few weeks later and took them to our May craft gathering and work, where they were devoured. They're very yummy cookies, although mine seemed rather sticky, and many of them didn't come off my cookie sheets in singular cookie form (I had a bowl full of cookies that looked like they had seen better days by the end of my baking).

I definitely don't think these would have traveled well to Arizona, but they certainly do taste good!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup crushed toffee candy

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Blend in the oatmeal and toffee bits. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Source: allrecipes.com