Rum-Soaked Raisins & Oatmeal Cookies

This isn't your typical oatmeal cookie recipe.

This is a recipe for the grown-up version of oatmeal cookies.

It's definitely the kind of cookie you artfully stack on a cute mini-pedestal - because it deserves the royal treatment.

It's the kind you serve after dinner with a decadently rich sipping rum, like my personal favorite Flor de Caña Centenario Gold 18, and dunk in the rum so that the cookie absorbs the deep, dark, golden jewel tone liquid.

This is a "high-end" cookie. The ingredients are more robust, richer and yes, this recipe uses better quality ingredients then your everyday cookie. Ingredients like premium rum, free-range eggs, turbinado sugar, bourbon-vanilla extract and steel-cut oats. And you might ask ...

Is it worth the investment?  Hell yeah!

• 1 cup spiced* or dark* rum
• 1 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 12 tablespoons of butter
• 1 1/4 cup raw brown turbinado sugar, lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon bourbon-vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 pinches of Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground clove and nutmeg
• 2 1/4 cups steel-cut Oats
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans (or nut of choice)

1. Soak raisins overnight in rum. Keep tightly covered.
2. Place raisins and rum in small pan, bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 20-30 minutes.
3. Drain liquid into a measuring cup, set raisins aside. Add more rum (if needed) to make up a 1/2 cup raisin-rum liquid.
4. Pre-heat over to 375 degrees
5. Cream sugar & butter, then stir in eggs vanilla and rum-raisin liquid
6. In a separate bowl, except for the oats and nuts, mix all the dry ingredients together.
7. Stir dry ingredients into batter in batches of thirds. Do not over stir, just until all ingredients are incorporated.
8. Stir in raisins, nut and oats to incorporate well.
9. Place rounded teaspoons of rum-raisin oats dough onto an ungreased, parchment lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
10. Bake 8-10 minutes*
11. Remove from oven and allow to cool 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

Serve with milk, coffee or ... a good quality sipping rum. ENJOY!

*Recipe Notes:
My preferred spiced rum is Captain Morgan's Black Spiced Rum, it adds deep rich flavor. My preferred dark rum is Flor de Caña Centenario Gold 18, the toffee and vanilla notes make it perfect for these cookies. These rums aren't cheap and you can certainly substitute with cheaper varieties or use the mini-bottles if you can find them.
Cookie doneness: for softer cookies bake to the lower range of bake time. For crispier cookies bake to the higher range of bake time. Adjust time according to how fast or slow your oven cooks.