Boston Cookies

Boston cookies are a New England staple from the early 20th century, when home bakers stretched pantry basics into cookies that traveled well in lunch pails and church bake sales. The dough is dead simple. Cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, fold in flour with cinnamon, then load it up with chopped walnuts and raisins.

No chilling, no rolling, no special equipment. Just spoon onto a sheet and bake. The texture leans toward old-fashioned American drop cookies, where a slight cakey rise meets a thin crisp exterior. The result is something between a hermit and a soft oatmeal raisin cookie, but with more cinnamon backbone.

The cinnamon and raisin combination is what gives Boston cookies their identifiable flavor. A full teaspoon of cinnamon in such a basic dough creates a deep warmth that smells like fall baking from the second the cookies hit the oven. Don’t reduce the cinnamon. The whole character of the cookie depends on it.

Kitchen Tips

• Cream the butter and sugar for a full 3 to 4 minutes. Properly aerated butter is what gives these cookies their soft, slightly puffy lift.
• Toss raisins in a tablespoon of flour before folding them in. It keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the cookie and helps them distribute evenly.
• Don’t overbake. Pull them at 10 minutes if the edges are set but the centers still look soft. They firm up as they cool.

Variations

• Swap the walnuts for chopped pecans or almonds.
• Add ½ cup of chocolate chips for a more modern twist.
• Substitute dried cranberries or chopped dates for half the raisins.