The Best Oatmeal Cookies Yet

I'm not a big self-horn-tooter, but these are definitely the best oatmeal cookies I've ever had. Not that I wrote the original recipe, because I didn't. The lovely and talented Elise of Simply Recipes did. I've included a short film below describing my baking process for these fabulous cookies.

The recipe is really buttery -- 2 sticks, but the resulting cookies are heavenly. I almost hate to give them away, but I made them for my friend Thom's birthday party taking place later today -- and if I'm not as good as my word, then what am I?

The original recipe makes 18 large cookies, but since I'm making them for a large (or rather, potentially large) group, I made smaller cookies. My yield was pretty high: 60 cookies. However, by the time I got to the end of the batch, there seemed to be a few ugly ones to keep to myself. No worries though, the ugly ones taste just as good. So filled with buttery goodness!

Before we get to the movie, here are my alterations:

1. Additional spices: 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon cloves -- really made a huge difference in flavor.
2. 1 1/2 cups of agave nectar for the 2 cups of mixed sugars.
3. 1/2 cup of chopped apricots for 1/2 cup raisins.
4. Pecans for walnuts
5. Baked at 325 degrees F for 11 minutes, then switched the positions of the pans in the oven and baked for another 11 minutes (but that's just my tricky oven, you may have different baking times).

And now for the show...



What are your favorite oatmeal cookies?