Oatmeal Raisin / Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies - Feingold Stage 1

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened    (I use Land O’Lakes or Horizon Organic)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar    (Domino Light Brown Sugar)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla     (I use organic to avoid corn syrup)

1 ½ cups flour    (I like King Arthur flour but any is fine) 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old-fashioned, uncooked)

1 cup raisins  (optional)

1.      Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.      Beat together butter and sugars till creamy.  (I usually try to let the butter sit out for a little while before using.) 

3.      Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Add vanilla.

4.      Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.  Stir, then add to sugar mixture. Mix well.

5.      Stir in oats and mix well.  Stir in raisins if using raisins. 

6.      Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

7.      Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

8.      Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet then move to wire rack.  Makes about 3 dozen. 

My son likes these plain without raisins.  You can also make them into chocolate chip cookies if you want. Just add chocolate chips and then I omit the cinnamon. Or sometimes I just leave the cinnamon in and make half with raisins and half with chocolate chips. 

We also make ice cream sandwich cookies out of them.  Allow to cool completely, then spoon some ice cream in between two cookies.  Place on a plate and place in the freezer if they have started to thaw. When frozen again, transfer and store in a large zip lock bag.  Label with the date. If I know I’m making these, I usually slightly under cook the cookies because they taste better.  They don’t turn out as good if the cookies are too hard. 

Update: They recently removed Breyers ice cream from the Feingold shopping guide because Breyer's suddenly will not fill out the forms.  They also changed their ingredients slightly (adding tara gum and removing the words "Natural" from the front of the packaging). As well, some members have reported reactions so we stopped buying Breyers.  A few that are approved are Haagen-Dazs vanilla, 365 brand vanilla from Whole Foods, Kirkland Signature from Costco (has corn syrup), and Double Rainbow French Vanilla from Trader Joe's.  So, there are still some other options. 

The ice cream sandwiches are always a hit for birthday parties when I send my  kids their own dessert. Everyone always wants to know where they got those. I put it in an insulated lunch bag with a cold pack then ask them to put it in the freezer until cake time. Other times, I'll send a cupcake.

*I got this recipe off the lid of my Quaker Oats. J

Feingold Stage 1 if you omit the raisins.