Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love these old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies. Firstly because they are so easy to make. You can whip up a batch of these old-fashioned 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 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!

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How to Make

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour + salt + baking soda
• Butter
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
• Rolled oats
• Dark or golden raisins
• Egg
• Vanilla essence

Mixing the cookie dough

1. 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.
2. Next to go into the creamed mixture is the egg and vanilla essence. Beat them into the creamed mixture until well incorporated. 
3. 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.
4. 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.

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Notes

Why does the recipe call for both brown sugar and white sugar?

• 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.

Can you use unsalted butter?

• I used salted butter in these cookies. In fact, I used salted butter in all my baking. It's a matter of personal choice. You are free to use unsalted butter but do remember to increase the salt in the recipe to half a teaspoon (increase or decrease accordingly if you are scaling the recipe).

Best oats for the cookies

• 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.

How to adjust the cookies sizes and baking time for chewy and soft cookies vs light and crispy cookies?

• 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. 

Variations options

• 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.

How to shape the cookies?

• 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.

Can the cookie dough be refrigerated?

• 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.

Storing the oatmeal cookies

• 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.

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Like these cookies recipe? Here are my other recipes you might want to check out

• Old Fashioned Lemon Pound Cake
• Brown Sugar Shortbread
• Almond Oatmeal Cookies (Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Almonds)
• Cinnamon Raisin Rolls - Soft & Fluffy Homemade Treat
• Lemon Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Old Fashioned Homemade Yeast Doughnuts
• Strawberry Oat Bars with Nutty Crumble Topping
• Crispy Coconut Cookies - Light and Easy

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies recipe. And while you are at it, don’t forget to read my notes right above.

And that’s my easy homemade old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies for you.

Enjoy!