Oatmeal raisin cookie


An oatmeal raisin cookie is a type of drop cookie distinguished by an oatmeal-based dough with raisins mixed throughout. Its ingredients also typically include flour, sugar, eggs, salt, and various spices. A descendant of the Scottish oatcake, the oatmeal raisin cookie has become one of the most popular cookies in the United States.
When the cookies were becoming prominent in the United States in the early 1900s, they came to be known as a "health food" by reason of having increased fiber and vitamin contents from the oatmeal and raisins. Nonetheless, the nutritional value of an oatmeal raisin cookie is virtually equivalent to that of a chocolate chip cookie, with each having practically the same sugar, fat, calorie and fiber content.

History

In the early Middle Ages, traditional Scottish oatcakes had similar ingredients but were and are typically crispier than modern oatmeal cookies. The first recorded oatmeal cookie recipe was published in the United States by Fannie Merritt Farmer in her 1896 cookbook, the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. While Farmer's original recipe did not contain raisins, their inclusion grew more common over time, due in part to the oatmeal raisin cookie recipes featured on every Quaker Oats container beginning in the early 1900s.