I have this frustrating habit

of taking recipes for everything that I do, and tweaking it to make it my own. And I mean everything. I cannot remember the last time that I have followed a recipe exactly as it was posted, written, or given to me. That annoying trend of mine has led to much experimenting and I had many less-than-tasty results, however it also gave me much experience and I wouldn't be me without wanting to personalize everything that I cooked and baked for my loved ones. I also tend to build my own recipes off the top of my head, which taught me much about what can go with what, and also that something that works toguether in one dish will most certainly not work toguether in other dishes. Many of my friends jokingly call me Suzy-homemaker  (being french, I had no clue what that referred to at first), and although I consider myself a little more experienced now, they tend to forget that when I first made a grilled cheese, I grilled cheese. Without the bread. On a pan. True story. But I am starting to think that my generation has fallen out of love with the art of creating with ingredients. Not many of my friends bake and cook, and even less, see almost none, want to attempt creating their own recipe. And I don't blame them, why go through all that process if you have something already made one click away? But still, I wonder why most of my generation has steered away from the joy of the oven and wooden spoon?

Back from this philosophical thinking, I have been trying to make the perfect oatmeal and raisin cookie recipe for ages. Why has this particular cookie been so difficult to construct? Because I don't (GASP) like raisins. In anything. And I really do believe that one has to taste their own baking/cooking before serving it. So many people looove these cookies (my future in-laws, for example), and I have been working hard trying to make a 'perfect' recipe, and I finally think that I have it. I made these cookies, and they did not run or harden or flatten. Apparently, they taste fantastic (I wouldnt know LOL). So here is the recipe:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 butter (not margarine)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 3/4 cups oats
• 1 cup raisin

Directions

1. Soak the raisins in a shallow container with warm water while making the dough. Make sure the water covers the raisins completely and stir them a couple of times.
2. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, and vanilla. Mix until homogeneous.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix the flour, bakind soda and powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toguether. Add in slowly to the wet mixture and mix until there are no lumps left.
4. Remove rasins from the water, and add in with the oats. Mix BY HAND until the whole mixture is evenly distributed. Watch out for raisins that tend to hide at the bottom of the bowl.
5. Spoon into a greased baking sheet. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for exactly 9 minutes. When the cookies just come out, flatten them SLIGHTLY with a fork, just the bring the pouffed cookie down a little.