Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Cable TV here is on a America's Next Top Model overload...for it appears, whenever I turn on the TV, they are screening some rerun from the past season. As I watch the pretty young girls pose, pout and bitch among themselves, I found an aspect of the show which strikes a chord in me.

Every week, the girls have to do a thematic photo shoot whereby the weakest performer at the shoot generally gets voted out of the competition. Some of the criticisms and comments made by the photographers sound oddly familiar...
1. they kept telling the girls to seek out the light, watch where the light is coming from and let it fall on their faces.
2. they get frustrated when the girls do not bring variation to their poses, branding them boring and listless.
3. they also get unimpressed when eventually only 1 to 2 frames are usable among the 50 odd frames each contestant is given to work with.

At times, when the judges are deliberating, I would imagine myself, holding my camera standing in front of the judging panel... listening to exactly the same comments which are all so applicable to the photos I have displayed here. Take today, for example, I must have shot some 100 frames and when I eventually sort through them in my computer, was dismayed to find most of them unusable. Lighting is always the main culprit followed by unimaginative composition that gets further restricted by the tripod mount. As a result of which, each frame only shows incremental differentiation from the previous one.


Luckily these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are more pleasing. When I saw these at Edith's blog last week, I knew I had to bookmark this for trial. I had always wanted to bake a cookie with rolled oats. I modified the recipe a little and replaced plain flour with a mixture of wholemeal and corn flour. I was hoping to get a more crunchy cookie but I guess the modification calls for more than a dash of corn flour. Nevertheless, this soft cookie is still delicious and more importantly, I am now more inspired to make more cookies soon.


Recipe  (adapted from Precious Moments)

226g       Unsalted Butter
180g       Light Brown Sugar
2             Large eggs
1tsp        Vanilla Extract
185g       Wholemeal flour
10g          Corn Flour
1 tsp        Baking Soda
1 tsp        Salt
1 tsp        Ground Cinnamon
260g        Rolled oats
140g        Raisin

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 175C
2. Cream butter and sugar till creammy and smooth
3. Add in Vanilla Extract
4. Sift flour , baking soda, salt and cinnamon together.
5. Add (4) into butter & egg mixture.
6. Stir in oats and raisins.
7. Use an ice cream scoop to portion batter onto baking sheet.
8. Bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.
9. Cool down completely on cooling rack and store in air tight container.