Oatmeal-raisin cookies, take 3

[ellarien]

This is the most successful attempt yet; this time I followed the recipe exactly, with actual brown sugar and baking soda, while previously I'd been using baking powder and granulated sugar (the second time around with added molasses). I also had two identical trays, side by side in an oven I'd asked for 275, whereupon it gave me a perfect 350. (The bottom shelf did get a lot hotter than that, with the trays on the top one.) I shaped the dough a bit with my hands (rolled it into balls and patted them slightly flat) rather than just dolloping it onto the tray, which resulted in more regular-shaped cookies. They came out nicely; I've eaten one, frozen nine in bags of three, and reserved the other six in a tin for short-term use. Also, for future reference, 30 sec at full power might be just a hair too long for softening one stick of butter in the microwave, but it did the job. (Considering the length of my hairs, perhaps that isn't the most appropriate expression ...)

Mixed beans (pinto, pink, small red and small white, 1/4 cup each) soaking in three cups of water; the rest of the packages mixed and divided between two containers for storage.

The gingerbread recipe calls for orange zest and chopped nuts, which I don't have at present, unless I start trying to chop up eating-quality pistachios, so that one will have to wait a while. I refuse to go grocery shopping again until next Saturday at the earliest!