Tomorrow's a big day!

Our church is opening up the first phase of our new construction tomorrow. It's a new multi-ministry center (aka a big gym), along with new preschool rooms and new children's Sunday school rooms. Hubby's been working hard this week getting the A/V ministry up and running for the new facility. We're having a big service tomorrow morning at 8:31 am, then an open house for the community at 2-4 pm. My contribution: oatmeal raisin cookies for the open house. Not much, but maybe a few peoples' tongues will be blessed :)

Since I'm in a generous mood, here is the recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Gems:
Yield: About 4 dozen cookies

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease baking sheets. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Beat butter, granulated, and brown sugar with mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake about 10 minutes or just until edges of cookies are light golden brown. Let cookies stand on sheets 2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Baker's notes:
*If you like oatmeal raisin cookies, you will LOVE these!
*Try using butter flavored shortening intead of butter--keeps cookies from spreading and sticking too much.
*Use parchment paper! The cookies won't stick, and you don't have to clean your pans.
*Use REAL vanilla extract, for goodness sakes. The imitation stuff is just gross.
*To get uniformly sized cookies, try using a small cookie scoop. Pampered Chef ones are great!
*Adjust baking time to your oven--mine takes 11 minutes. Note it in your recipe when you find the time that works best.
*If you aren't going to use the whole batch now, bake up what you need, then drop the rest of the dough into spoonfuls or scoops onto waxed paper, then put into a freezer bag. They will keep for 3-4 months and you can just take out however many you want and put them straight into the oven. Great for a quick snack!