Are you in the group "yay" or "no" when it comes to raisins in baked goods? I am definitely a "no" and I think like nuts, raisins ruin many a baked treat. (At least for me.) I like raisin oatmeal cookies well, even if I have to choose raisins. The soft texture and the sweetness of the grapes are so great, and never quite the same as the chocolate chips. So when my friend Carol shared with me the recipe for his aunt "raisinless" Oatmeal Raisin, I'm intrigued!
Basically grapes are cooked in water, and all the flavor of the liquid escarpments in doing something she calls "grape water." When added to the cookie dough, you get a grape taste like without the texture I'm not a fan of. Just mation on their cookies are fabulous. Crisp edges, very soft middles and a wonderful flavor. (If I had not jazzed them with caramels, I think I throw in some chocolate chips or caramel.)
Since I happened to have half the lot sea salt caramels sitting in my refrigerator the remains of the weekend, I thought this would be the perfect thing to stuff inside that cookie. A cookie crisp and chewy oats salted caramel sticky inside seemed too good not to try out especially since it's been almost two years since I stuffed snickerdoodles caramel, and I've learned a lot since !
The end result was wonderful. The caramel filling keeps these cookies soft for days and is so much fun to bite into. If you can keep a secret- give some of these away and feel pretty darn special as they ooh and ahh at the surprise of caramel!
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter milk unsalted softened sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. baking soda
- ½ c. salt
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
- 2 cups all purpose
- 2 cups oat
- 1 cup raisins
- 2 cups water
- 15-16 sea salt Caramels *
- in a small saucepan, combine water and raisins. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes, or until the water has reached a dark brown caramel. Strain and discard grapes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oatmeal, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Put aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, and mix until well incorporated, add 5-6 tablespoons of grape water and mix well.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Chill dough for 30 minutes or until cold and easy to handle.
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat.
- Place small balls of dough about 2-3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Place one on each caramel and gently snuggle in, just a little.
- Top each with another ball of dough and carefully seal the dough around caramel, making sure there are no gaps.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool.
