The Ultimate Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

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You might seem skeptical but trust me this the ultimate oatmeal raisin cookie recipe  or that it is out of your reach, think again. I have a perfect recipe for you that is a cinch to throw together because it uses melted butter. You can use quick oats or old fashioned- whichever you have on hand so you have ultimate oatmeal raisin cookies that rival your local bakery.

A lot of time, I hear that one of the main reasons you don’t bake from scratch is because you can’t seem to get the right texture and taste that is the same as your local bakery. So why bother, right? I don’t believe that you need a culinary degree or own a bakery to have perfect cookies. No way. So if you have attempted homemade oatmeal raisin cookies in the past to find that lackluster, I promise you these cookies will change your mind. 

These oatmeal raisin cookies are big, soft, and perfectly chewy on the inside. Basically everything you crave in an oatmeal raisin cookie. 

It took me several attempts to get the texture of these cookies just right. But after about 4 batches, I finally got that soft, chewy texture I was going for. 

Ingredients for these Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• All purpose flour – I used all purpose flour for these cookies. I have used different flours for my cookies in the past. Like bread flour and cake flour in the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, but for this one I kept it simple. Because I know you have all purpose flour in your cupboard. It has a great mid range protein content so you get great structure and texture. For more baking science, you can read all about the Types Of Flours here.
• Baking soda – Baking soda is what helps to give these cookies a bit of a lift. Baking powder is not the same thing so don’t use it interchangeably. You can read more about baking powder vs. baking soda here. 
• Salt – Of course every recipe needs a little salt to balance out the sweetness. I used table salt. 
• Cinnamon – This little spice is crucial if you ask me to this recipe. No oatmeal raisin cookie would be without it. The warmth of this spice helps to balance the sweetness of the raisins and gives this cookie a lot of flavor.
• Butter – I used unsalted butter in this cookie recipe. Different brands of butter will use varying amounts of salt in their salted butter so it’s better to use unsalted so you can control the amount of salt in the dough. And it’s made with melted butter so the dough comes together quickly.
• Sugars – I love using a combination of brown sugar and white sugar in all my cookie recipes. And I always love using more brown sugar than white sugar, so you get great flavor from the molasses in the brown sugar and chewiness.
• Eggs – Of course you need a couple large eggs to bring this dough together. Make sure that they are room temperature. Bring them to room temperature quickly by placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
• Vanilla extract– Vanilla is always wonderful for flavor. Pure is best, but if all you have is imitation then by all means use it. 
• Oats – You can use old fashioned or quick oats. I’ve used both. And both made GREAT cookies.  
• Raisins – Some might say they are optional but then it wouldn’t be an oatmeal raisin cookie now would it be? Of course you can omit them. You can use chocolate chips. They are your cookies and your kitchen. 

How do you make these soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies?

• Combine dry ingredients. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk and set aside.
• Combine butter and sugars. In a second bowl with a whisk or your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine your melted butter and sugars. Stir for 2-3 minutes.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix to combine.
• Combine wet and dry. Add in your dry ingredients, and mix to combine. Be careful to not overmix.
• Add oats and raisins. Stir in your oats, and raisins.
• Scoop and refrigerate. Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop your cookies on to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and flatten with your hand until about 1/2-inch thickness. (I placed all my cookies side by side on the same cookie sheet) and chill covered with plastic wrap in your refrigerator for 24 hours.
• Bake the cookies.. When ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 6-8 (anymore and they will spread into each other) on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes.
• Cool the cookies.  Remove from the cookie sheet and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Tips for making these Ultimate Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• Measure your flour correctly.  Be sure to measure your flour correctly, so the texture comes out right. If you over measure your flour, it can result in a cakier cookie. So it’s super important to be accurate during this step. Now, simply whisk your dry ingredients together and set aside!
• Chill the dough. This dough gets chilled for at least 24 hours up to 72 hours. Chilling the dough results in a nice thick and tall cookie that spreads less in the oven. Basically? Perfection. I actually tested a cookie straight from the bowl to see if it made a difference. The cookies that were chilled definitely spread less, but to be honest, even NOT chilled these were still THE BEST. Do yourself a favor, and scoop the cookie dough first before refrigerating. Unless you have Herculian arms, you will have a heck of a time trying to scoop the dough after if it’s been chilled. Scoop, then chill. Chilling my cookie is one way to keep my cookies from being flat. 
• Use a large 2-inch cookie scoop and scoop giant balls of cookie dough. Why? Because bigger cookies are better than small ones? Ok, well yes they are. But, there is actually science behind it too. The larger cookie helps to give those perfect crispy edges and soft ooey, gooey, middle we all want. You could also measure out your cookie dough into 3 1/2 ounce balls of dough to ensure they are all the same perfect size. Who would be such a nerd and do such a thing? Oh wait, I did. Moving on…

For more cookie tips, read my 6 tips to bake perfect cookies

Ultimate Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe FAQ’s

Do I need to use raisins in these oatmeal cookies?

Absolutely not! You can use substitute chocolate chips or simply omit them altogether. Try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.  Or get creative try using dried cranberries, or white chocolate chips.

Why did my oatmeal cookies spread so much?

Cookie spreading is a bummer. There 8 reasons that I can think of why your cookies may have spread. If your cookies do spread in the oven, you can try this little trick I picked up from Sally’s Baking Addiction, which is to take them out of the oven and take a spoon and press the edges of the cookie inward.

Can I freeze these old fashioned oatmeal cookies?

Yes and you should. When they take 24 hours to chill, it’s much easier to freeze them. You can freeze them baked or unbaked. 

To freeze unbaked: Scoop the cookies onto a cookie sheet, and freeze solid. Then place into a sealable plastic bag. You can bake frozen, without thawing, but add on a few extra minutes of baking time.

To freeze baked: Allow the cookies to cool completely. Then when ready to eat, allow to thaw. I like to pop them into the microwave for about 20 seconds to bring them back to ooey gooey life. 

Why do my cookies get hard?

This could be because you overbaked the cookies. If the dough is too warm (remember that chilling time!) then it could cause them too spread too much resulting in a cookie that gets too thin and gets too crispy and hard.

Your oven temperature may also be too high. I recommend using an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is running at the correct temperature. Be sure to give my Baking 101: Getting to know your oven post a read!

Do I need to chill my cookie dough?

You don’t necessarily need to. Your cookies will spread more if you don’t. You can see what happens if you don’t chill the dough in the picture below. 

Chilling allows the butter to firm up, so they will spread less and intensifies the flavors of everything. It’s a game changer. I chilled my cookies for 24 hours for the perfect cookie.

The cookie on the left: No chilling

The cookie on the right: Chilled 24 hours

More cookie recipes:

• Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
• Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
• Chocolate Rolo Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Salted Brown Butter Cookies
• Brown Butter Soft Pumpkin Cookies
• Double Chocolate Cookies
• Nutella Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies
• Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
• No Chill Sugar Cookies
• Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

To make these Ultimate Raisin Oatmeal cookies you will need:

• Quality Cookies Sheets Like These Ones That Won’t Warp or Burn Your Cookies
• Oven Thermometer
• Silicone baking mat
• cooling rack
• cookie spatula

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If you want to become a better baker then be sure to check out my Ultimate Baking Bootcamp online class!

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Until next time, happy baking!

Print Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Ultimate Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

An oatmeal raisin cookie that rivals any bakery. It uses melted butter so the dough is a cinch to throw together as well. You can make them with just a whisk and a mixing bowl.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time35 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: oatmeal cookies

Servings: 24 cookies

Author: Heather Perine

Ingredients

• 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
• 1 cup (213 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (99 g) granulated white sugar
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups (198 g) oats old fashioned or quick
• 1 1/2 cups (234 g) raisins

Instructions

• Combine dry ingredients. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar. In a second bowl or your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine your melted butter and sugars. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix to combine.
• Combine wet and dry. Add in your dry ingredients, and mix to combine. Be careful to not overmix.
• Add oats and raisins. Stir in your oats, and raisins with a rubber spatula. 
• Scoop and refrigerate dough.

  For large cookies: Using a large scoop (or a 1/4 cup), scoop your cookies on to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and flatten with your hand until about 1/2-inch thickness. (I placed all my cookies side by side on the same cookie sheet) and chill covered with plastic wrap in your refrigerator for 24 hours.

  For smaller (regular sized) cookies: Use a 1-inch (small) scoop (or about 1 tablespoonful) and place about 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet. Cover the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. 
• Bake. When ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place 6-8 large cookies, or 12 smaller cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes for large cookies, or 10-12 minutes for smaller cookies.
• Cool cookies. Allow cookies to cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

Notes

• Tools:  Cookies Sheets | Oven Thermometer |Kitchen-Aid Mixer |Cookie Scoop | silicon baking mat | spatula | cooling rack | cookie spatula
• Measure your flour correctly.  Be sure to measure your flour correctly, so the texture comes out right. If you over measure your flour, it can result in a cakier cookie. So it's super important to be accurate during this step. Now, simply whisk your dry ingredients together and set aside!
• Chill the dough. This dough gets chilled for at least 24 hours up to 72 hours. Chilling the dough results in a nice thick and tall cookie that spreads less in the oven. Basically? Perfection. I actually tested a cookie straight from the bowl to see if it made a difference. The cookies that were chilled definitely spread less, but to be honest, even NOT chilled these were still THE BEST. Do yourself a favor, and scoop the cookie dough first before refrigerating. Unless you have Herculian arms, you will have a heck of a time trying to scoop the dough after if it’s been chilled. Scoop, then chill. Chilling my cookie is one way to keep my cookies from spreading too much. 
• Use a large 2-inch cookie scoop and scoop giant balls of cookie dough. Why? Because bigger cookies are better than small ones? Ok, well yes they are. But, there is actually science behind it too. The larger cookie helps to give those perfect crispy edges and soft ooey, gooey, middle we all want. You could also measure out your cookie dough into 3 1/2 ounce balls of dough to ensure they are all the same perfect size. 

For more cookie tips, read my 6 tips to bake perfect cookies