German Oatmeal Cookies - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cup raisins
2 cups flour (sifted, all-purpose)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
1/2 teaspoon clove (ground)
1/2 teaspoon allspice (ground)
1/2 lb butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup dates (pitted, coarsely chopped)
2 cups old fashioned oats (old-fashioned, not instant)
1/3 cup water
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (semisweet)
4 ounces pecans (broken into pieces)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400. Cover two cookie sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side up.
Place raisins in small saucepan. Cover with boiling water and let simmer for 5 minutes. Drain raisins in strainer and reserve 1/3 cup of the water.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.
In large bowl of electric mixer, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat well. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until smooth after each addition. Add the dates and drained raisins, and beat just to mix. Beat in oatmeal. Gradually beat in reserve 1/3 cup of raisin water.
On low speed, slowly add sifted dry ingredients, scraping bowl with rubber spatula and beating only until mixed. By hand, stir in the pecan pieces and chocolate chips. Dough may be stiff.
Place dough by heaping teaspoonfuls on foil, about 2\" apart. If you like, you can place a pecan half on top of each cookie for decoration (pecan halves are not included in the ingredients listed above.).
Bake 12-14 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Cool.