These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are perfectly crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, exactly the way you would want them to be.
These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies hold a place near and dear to my heart. They were first published in 2020 when I made the announcement that my wonderful husband, Nathan, had left his left his position as a CTO to help me run my business and see where we can take it together. Since that announcement, my business has grown in the most beautiful way, and a huge piece of that is because of Nathan’s support.
These cookies really were the perfect way to make such an important announcement, because they are his favorite cookie. These Oatmeal Raisin Cookies went through a lot of rigorous testing until I got a cookie that as crisp on the outside, had the perfect amount of spread, and was buttery soft on the inside. I know that these are going to be perfect for celebrating in your house as well.
Oh My Word!!! Look no further. The best oatmeal raisin cookie receipe I’ve ever made. Followed receipe exactly. I’ll never use another receipe. Thank you soooo much.
How to Make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
This is a brief overview of how simple it is to make these perfect classic cookies. For the full recipe, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Mix together the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Don’t miss my instructions for measuring flour below.
- Cream the butter and sugar together. This should be done with a handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Read below why this is such an important step.
- Add the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Do this all at once to ensure that you don’t over-mix the flour.
- Mix in the raisins in and oats. I like to do this step with a spatula.
- Form into cookies and bake.
Using White and Brown Sugar in Cookies
The crispy exterior, perfect spread, and delicious chewiness of this cookie is due to one main thing: the perfect balance of white and brown sugar.
The brown sugar gives it the chewiness, while the white sugar helps them spread and form their crispy exterior. The result is a perfect cookie.
Cookie Making Tips
These are great tips to follow for any type of cookie.
- Measure the flour correctly. This is such an important step that I have a whole section below about it. If the recipe doesn’t turn out, this is most likely the reason.
- Use room temperature butter. This ensures the cookies spread the right amount. You should be able to push a finger in to dent the butter but not all the way through. The butter should still feel cold to the touch.
- Ensure your baking soda is fresh. Test it by dropping a little in vinegar; it should bubble immediately.
- Thoroughly cream together the butter and sugar. During this process, the sugar adds air to the butter. This is and is essential for a good chewy cookie but it also expands the dough and makes for a recipe that yields more cookies.
- Use a good baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The baking surface changes how they bake. I love these sheets for Nordic Ware.
- Pour in all the flour at once. Mix on low just enough to get most of it into the batter, and then turn to high for a few seconds to incorporate the rest. This prevents over beating the dough.
- Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop. Not only does this make quick work of scooping cookies, it creates uniform sized cookies that will bake evenly.
Baking Sheets
Measuring Flour
As mentioned above, it is critical to this recipe that you measure flour correctly for this recipe to turn out correctly. We want to avoid scooping the flour from the container with the measuring cup as this can result in 25% too much flour.
Your best bet with flour and baking is always to weigh it. That being said, if you don’t have a kitchen scale, this measuring technique works great.
- Whisk the flour in the container you store it in. Whether that is a glass jar, a Tupperware, or the bag the flour came in, you want to whisk it in the container to help loosen it up.
- Use a spoon to scoop the flour out of your flour container. Scoop it into a dry measuring cup. That is a plastic or metal measuring cup that come together in sets of 1, 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 cups. Do not use a glass measuring cup meant for liquids.
- Level off the flour. Once the flour is in the dry measuring cup, level it off with the flat edge of a spatula.
How to Measure Flour
Quick Cooking vs. Old Fashioned Oats
You will notice that these call for old fashioned oats. The difference between old fashioned and quick cooking oats is the size of the oat piece. Old fashioned oats are whole while quick cooking are broken down. I prefer the chewiness that old fashioned oats adds to this recipe, but the recipe will work just fine with quick cooking oats.
Freezing the Dough
You can bake these cookies right away without chilling or you can freeze the dough balls for later. Follow the steps below for freezing this as cookie dough.
- Form the dough into balls as instructed in the recipe card.
- Place the dough balls on a piece of wax paper in the freezer and freeze for 1 hour.
- Then transfer to an air tight container until you want to bake them.
- When ready to bake, place directly from the freezer onto a parchment lined baking sheet and into the hot preheated oven.
- Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.
Storing
Eat these cookies warm from the oven or store in an air tight container for up to one week. This is a pretty solid cookie and would work for shipping if you are a sweet soul who does that sort of thing.
These can also be frozen as baked cookies. Simply freeze them in a single layer for a few hours before stacking them in an air-tight container and returning them to the freezer. They can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.
FAQ
In all likelihood there was too much flour in the recipe. Please be sure to follow the instructions above for measuring flour.
Absolutely! I do that in my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and they are delicious.
I prefer to use unsalted butter because the amount of salt in butter varies greatly from brand to brand. Using unsalted butter allows you to control for saltiness. That being said, yes! You can use salted butter and omit the salt.
Yes! Please find my freezing instructions above.
Other Delicious Cookies
If you make these soft oatmeal raisin cookies or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour see note (240 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature (197.8 grams)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar (148.5 grams)
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed (159.8 grams)
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups old fashioned oats (178 grams)
- 1 cup raisins (149 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat to oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, until compltely mixed.2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, with a hand held mixer or using a stand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. This will take between 3 and 6 minutes.14 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- Add the eggs one at a time. Then add in the vanilla. Be sure to scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula before each addition.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Add in the flour mixture. With the mixer on it's lowest setting, beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until it just begins to combine. Then turn the mixture up and finish combinging it until it is just combined. Be careful not to continue mixing after the flour is combined in.
- Mix in the oats and then the raisins.2 cups old fashioned oats, 1 cup raisins
- Using a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookies and roll them into balls. Place 2 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. For best results, rotate the pan half way through. Remove fro the oven, let cool on the baking sheet for two minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy right away or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Hope says
Hi Lisa, I’ve looked for so many easy recipes. Yours seems to be the easiest and I’m going to make them tomorrow God willing. Is it possible to use Splenda?
Can’t wait to try them.
I haven’t tried this recipe with Splenda. I would be a little worried that it wouldn’t work the way you want it to as sugar plays such an important role in baking cookies.
Lori M says
I made these cookies and they are they best chewy oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve made. Thank you!
I’m so glad that you liked them, Lori!
Robin says
I am extremely pleased with my results. I followed your instructions exactly except that I baked them about a minute and a half longer as I wanted them crispy. I think that they would have been perfect if I had just baked them for 12 min. I have had 2 before dinner and could easily eat more! I will definitely make this recipe again. I think I may have used a smaller scoop than suggested, but for the size, I feel like the cookies spread well enough. I always press my cookies with a spatula when I take them out of the oven to flatten them more. I am not a fan of cakey cookies. Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad you liked them Robin!
Wendi says
Love this recipe! No mine didn’t spread much but really didn’t matter for me. it gave the middle a nice soft center. The taste was wonderful. I also added a handful of chocolate chips with the raisins.
Glad you liked them Wendi!
Vicky says
I have always heated my raisins in a little water for a few minutes so they soften – is that not really necessary?
Thank you for all the tips?
Hi Vicky! I’ve never done that and they taste delicious. I can see how your method would also be good. It would change the consistency of the raisins.
Sheila says
Oh My Word!!! Look no further. The best oatmeal raisin cookie receipe I’ve ever made. Followed receipe exactly. I’ll never use another receipe. Thank you soooo much.
So happy to hear this, Sheila!
Linda says
I made these today, did not come out just like yours but they taste good, I will make them again. Butter temperature certainly makes a difference, I think mine was too soft. Plus all I had was the quick oats, should have waited and used the old fashion ones, oh well. Plus I should have used 2 cookie sheets not just one large one .
Thank you for the recipes, I will be trying more of yours!
Thanks Linda!
Prachi says
How can I replace egg in this recipe?
I’m sorry, Prachi, this recipe was only tested with an egg. There are some recipes that use flax seed as an egg replacement, but I would have to test it before I could recommend that here.
Faye Scruggs says
This is also my husband’s favorite cookie.
They are so good!
Linda A says
Just made these today and they are fantastic! My husband really likes oatmeal raisin cookies, I’m not a big raisin fan but these cookies are excellent!
Thank you for your great site and recipes!