Everyone really loves these cookies and people are always asking me for the recipe. It is nothing more than an improvement on the original from the Quaker Oats Company.
I brought these cookies as my contribution to our picnic at the Hollywood Bowl Playboy Jazz Festival some years ago. We were guests of someone with box seats directly behind Hugh Hefner and his guest, actor Jamie Foxx. I passed around my cookies to the box seats in front of us. Hugh’s entourage as well as Jamie Foxx and his party ate lots of my cookies. This story is why I added Jazzy to the name of this cookie recipe.
The cookies are non-dairy and nutritious, and they are not overly sweet. Being moist and chewy with just the right amount of crispy exterior makes them irresistible.
The flavors of raisins, chocolate chips, and pecans have a strong affinity with that brown sugar/cinnamon goodness we all love in an oatmeal cookie.
Make some for your family and use my trick to keep the fresh-baked flavor — keep the cookies in an airtight container in the freezer until you serve them.
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted margarine (butter if you want them dairy)
1 cup brown sugar (packed in the measuring cup and leveled)
½ cup granulated sugar
2 extra large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 and ½ cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups Old Fashioned uncooked oats
1 generous cup raisins
1 generous cup chopped pecans
1 generous cup dark chocolate chips (I use non-dairy chips)
Pre-baking steps:
Prepare all the ingredients. If you are making multiple batches, measure everything ahead like an assembly line.
Preheat the oven to 350º with the racks in the middle. Cookies always bake better on light-colored aluminum baking sheets. Results are different with nonstick or darker colored pans. Silpats work fine.
I use the half sheet size, and 12 cookies fit on a sheet since you must allow room for spreading as they flatten out during the baking process. It is not necessary to grease the baking sheets. Prepare an auto-release medium size ice cream scoop to form the cookies.
Now start combining:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the margarine and sugars together until light and fluffy.
Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix for a second longer. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.
Next combine the flour with the baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix well, and then add this to the margarine and sugar.
Start the mixer on the slowest speed to avoid a big flour mess. Scrape down the bowl and mix for a moment longer. Next, add in the oats and mix for a moment. Finally add the raisins, chips, and pecans. Mix briefly to blend. 
Onto the cookie sheets: Scoop very generously sized balls with the ice cream scoop, evenly placing the cookies onto the cookie sheets.
Measure out all the cookie batter, it should make 24 or two baking sheets of 12, use your right index finger and middle finger to flatten each ball just a bit.
Baking in the oven:
Place each cookie sheet in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on the cookies, as every oven is different. Remove when the cookies are golden brown.
Cool 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then use a metal spatula, and carefully remove the cookies to cooling racks. You can pack them away once they are completely cold.
For your reference, I use:
Fleishman’s unsalted margarine, parve, non dairy
C & H light brown sugar
C & H granulated white sugar
Quaker Old Fashion Oats
Sunmaid Raisins
Extra Large Grade AA eggs
Gold Medal unbleached all purpose flour
Raw pecans that I chop
Lieber’s Real Chocolate Chips, Semi Sweet,, parve, non dairy
Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla
Uh oh…the zip on my jeans is getting a bit more difficult to zip up after the borekas and the biscotios, so I wonder what’s going to happen when I bake up a batch of these gorgeous looking beauties!
Thanks for the very easy-to-follow recipe (we don’t have Quaker Oats here, but we do have the Irish equivalent – Flahavan’s Porridge Oats) and for the very inspiring photos. I’ll definitely be baking this weekend, and these lads are definitely on the list. Ah well…the weather’s getting a bit better (finally), and it’s staying brighter for longer stretches in the evening, so I hereby promise to walk more with every treat I indulge in. At this rate, though, I’m going to be walking every other minute, LOL!
Hi Greek girl, I walked this morning, I hear you. I bake all this stuff and try to give it away or have my boys eat it. I promise to start making more vegetable dishes. I will shoot pictures today of stuffed artichokes-comming soon-. Linda
Hi Linda – I try to give as much away as I can, as well, to friends and neighbours, and also our local health food shop (the owners and the women who run the shop are truly lovely people and who love trying new foods and recipes). I’m also thinking of bringing some over to the local cafe – they sell regular ‘cafe culture’ fayre like scones and paninis and wraps and the like, and I was thinking perhaps I could just leave a few samples for customers to try out and enjoy. Who knows? – it could actually lead to a business opportunity, if my biscottios (or ‘kloothya’?) or the borekas meet with approval from the patrons!