This old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies recipe makes a delightful batch of timeless classics with the wholesome goodness of whole oats and plump raisins.
With their chewy texture and sweet aroma, these easy oatmeal raisin cookies are easy to make and absolutely delicious. Whether enjoyed with a glass of milk or shared with loved ones, these homemade oatmeal cookies are sure to bring comfort and pleasant childhood memories.
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- This is a great recipe. Firstly because these classic oatmeal cookies are so easy to make. You can whip up a batch of these easy cookies in under 30 minutes.
- Secondly, because they are super simple. And by that, I mean the ingredients that go into the easy cookies are nothing fancy. Most are always available at home, so making a batch of these homemade oatmeal raisin cookies anytime you feel like eating them is always possible.
- I also like the fact that I can use this old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies recipe to make both soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies as well as light and crispy oatmeal cookies. Just by increasing or reducing my baking time, I can get both soft chewy cookies and light crispy oatmeal raisin cookies all with just one recipe!
If you like this recipe, check out my other cookie recipes here:
- Almond Oatmeal Cookies (with Toasted Almonds)
- Simple Peanut Butter Cookies with Sprinkles
- Cornflakes Cookies (Easy Crunchy Cookies)
- 3 Ingredient Cookies (Easy Egg Free Recipe)
- All Butter Shortbread Bars (A Classic Quick & Easy Recipe)
📋Ingredients
- All-purpose flour + baking soda - mix these together and sift them to break any lumps in the flour and the baking soda.
- Butter - I used salted butter in these cookies. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt in the recipe to half a teaspoon (increase or decrease accordingly if you are scaling the recipe).
- Granulated sugar (caster sugar) - fine sugar works best for this recipe.
- Light brown sugar - adds a lovely depth in taste to the cookies.
- Rolled oats
- Dark or golden raisins - use fresh raisins.
- Egg - use large eggs. Egg helps to hold the cookie dough together.
- Salt - enhances the taste of the cookies.
- Vanilla extract - adds a lovely flavor to the cookies.
*Refer to the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and exact quantities. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- This delicious cookies are called old fashioned for a reason - they are to be made using whole rolled oats (old-fashioned oats). And that is what I have used in my recipe. Having said that, you can always substitute the whole rolled old fashioned oats with quick oats (instant oats), the results will not vary much.
- You can customize these old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies by adding nuts or chocolate chips to the dough. To keep the proportion of the cookie batter to these additions consistent, reduce the quantity of raisins by the quantity of nuts or chocolate chips added to the cookie dough.
- Other variations include adding some flaked coconut. Use unsweetened flakes and reduce them amount of oats by the amount of coconut flakes you add to the recipe.
- You can also give these classic cookies a flavor of spice by adding a hint of cinnamon powder to the flour.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Mixing the cookie dough
- Pre heat oven to 165 degrees Celsius. The process starts with the creaming of the butter and both sugars (white and brown sugars) and the salt in a large bowl (on medium speed with an electric mixer) until creamy. Unlike cakes, you need not beat the butter and sugars until it's all light and fluffy, suffice if it is well creamed. In fact, beating too much will cause the cookies to spread too much during baking.
- Next to go into the creamed mixture is the egg and vanilla extract. Beat them into the creamed mixture until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking soda and add in the rolled oats. Mix them well with a spatula or a whisk.
- Add this flour-oatmeal dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Beat until the flour and oats are well incorporated. This should take approximately 15 to 20 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl as well as the bottom of the bowl. Next, add in the sweet raisins. Mix them in with a spatula until well distributed into the cookie dough. The raisins are best mixed in with a spatula rather than a mixer so that they don’t get crushed into smaller pieces.
Shaping the cookies
- With all the ingredients in the batter, the old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies are ready to take shape. At this stage, the cookie dough will be slightly sticky. I used my 1 tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop the cookie dough into tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking trays. And then I shaped them lightly with my fingers so that they are generally rounded. Also make sure the cookies were placed well apart to allow space for spreading and avoiding them from sticking to one another. You can also use a cookie scoop.
- Bake the old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies in a pre heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes until the sides turn slightly brown. At this stage, the cookies will be slightly crispy on the edges and soft and chewy in the centers.
- Leave them in the oven slightly longer (about 3 minutes extra) if you want them to be crispy throughout.
- Let the cookies cool down on a wire rack. Store them in an airtight container if not consumed immediately.
🍽️Serving & storage
- If you make your cookies into a soft and chewy texture, these old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies are best consumed within a day or two. They are best served fresh.
- If, on the other hand, you make your cookies light and crunchy, they last well for a good 2 weeks. Store them in an airtight container to ensure they don't lose their crunchy texture.
💡Expert tips
- Baking time is typically dependent on the size of your cookies. I shaped mine into 1 tablespoon size. The baking time indicated in the recipe is just nice to make the cookies soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the edges. If you wish to make larger cookies with a soft and chewy consistency, you would need to increase the time slightly.
- If you wish to make crunchy oatmeal raisin cookies, for 1 tablespoon cookie size as indicated in the recipe, you would need to increase the time to an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
💭FAQs
This old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies recipe uses both brown sugar and white sugar. I used light brown sugar but you can also replace it with dark brown sugar. Brown sugar gives these old fashioned cookies a deep, molasses-like flavor, and keeps them soft and chewy after baking. White sugar, on the other hand, is only in a much smaller quantity and is meant to give the cookies the lovely crispy edge.
The dough for these old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies is slightly sticky, so rolling them into balls with both hands is not quite advisable.
Use a spoon to scoop and drop the dough directly onto baking sheets. Use your fingertips to lightly shape the cookies into rounded balls before baking. Don’t worry about getting them into perfectly shaped balls, suffice if they are generally rounded, overall. Using an ice cream scoop is the best option to shape these cookies.
The cookies spread considerably during baking, so be sure to place them well apart from one another on the baking tray to avoid them from sticking to each other.
The other good thing about these old fashioned oatmeal cookies is that the dough can be refrigerated for a good one day . Simply bring it to room temperature before baking for easy scooping and shaping.
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📖Recipe
Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 100 g all purpose flour
- 120 g butter
- 20 g granulated sugar
- 100 g brown sugar
- 100 g rolled oats
- 75 g raisins
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 165°Celsius.
- In a clean bowl, mix together the flour and oats with a spatula and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream butter, salt and both sugars until creamy. Add the egg and continue beating until well incorporated.
- Add in vanilla extract and beat again for a few more seconds.
- Finally, add the flour-oats mixture and beat for another few seconds until the flour is well distributed.
- Add the raisins and mix with a spatula until the raisins are well distributed in the dough.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and drop onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Place the cookies slight apart to allow room for spreading.
- Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 165°Celsius for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool them on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
- Baking time is typically dependent on the size of your cookies. I shaped mine into 1 tablespoon size. The baking time indicated in the recipe is just nice to make the cookies soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the edges. If you wish to make larger cookies with a soft and chewy consistency, you would need to increase the time slightly.
- If you wish to make crunchy oatmeal raisin cookies, for 1 tablespoon cookie size as indicated in the recipe, you would need to increase the time to an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
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