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The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
These soft, chewy oatmeal cookies with plump raisins are the best oatmeal cookie recipe on the planet!
I grew up eating A LOT of oatmeal raisin cookies.
It is hands down my Mom’s favorite cookie. I would get so excited to see homemade cookies on the kitchen counter, only to discover they were oatmeal raisin, not chocolate chip.
As I have worked for years creating recipes for my website, I realized that I didn’t have a traditional oatmeal cookie recipe yet. I wanted to create an oatmeal cookie recipe that my kids and husband would actually eat…and ultimately love to eat them. Challenge accepted.
First of all…they had to be soft and chewy. They couldn’t be dry with zero flavor. They needed to have enough sweetness from a mixture of brown sugar and sugar. In order to be perfect oatmeal raisin cookies, they needed to be chewy which comes from a higher ratio of brown sugar to sugar and just the right amount of oats.
I also love to add one type of leavening agent and one thickener — cornstarch to make them extra soft and baking soda to give them the rise they need. Cornstarch helps to keep the cookies moist for a longer time.
As I played around with the recipe to get it just right, I brought in my brutally honest taste testers. Let me be honest here, my teenagers weren’t exactly thrilled at the idea of eating oatmeal raisin cookies.
Until they tried them.
They all went back for seconds…and I knew my job was done. I turned them into oatmeal raisin cookie lovers. I also turned into one and so did my husband. We made two batches, two days in a row because our cravings struck again! I am officially hooked.
These truly are the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever!
How to make the BEST Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:
- In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. This allows the butter to wrap around the sugars and to create a creamy texture. It also whips air into the cookie dough which allows the cookies to rise more once the cookies hit the oven.
- Use pure vanilla extract. This helps to bring some flavor to the dough so don’t miss out on this one. If you want to add some warmth to the cookies, you can add cinnamon. My kids prefer the cookies without so it is a personal preference.
- Use both cornstarch and baking soda. Cornstarch is a game-changing ingredient and makes the cookies extra soft.
- Make sure to use soft, fresh raisins. You don’t want hard, stale raisins. If they aren’t as soft as you’d like, let them soak in very hot water for 15 minutes, until they begin to plump up.
- Bake for only 9-11 minutes. Be careful not to overbake! You want them to be soft and slightly underdone. They will continue to firm up on the baking sheet once you take them out of the oven.
Here are some more favorite oatmeal cookie recipes:
Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Bakery Style Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here are some of my favorite baking tools:
Light Colored Baking Sheets
Parchment Paper Sheets
Kitchenaid Mixer
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The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Equipment
- 1 turner
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter (softened, cut into cubes)
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 2/3 cup Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon (optional, we usually omit it)
- 2 1/4 cups Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
- 1/2 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Raisins (soft and plump)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 365 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl halfway through to ensure even mixing.
- Add eggs and vanilla and mix for 1 minute longer.
- Stir in flour, rolled oats, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add cinnamon (if using). Fold in raisins.
- Drop onto a light-colored baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges start to turn a light golden color. Don't overbake. The cookies will continue to bake once you remove them from the oven. I prefer to under-bake rather than over-bake.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, can I use unsalted butter instead of salted?
How does this recipe compare against the levain recipe?
Just checking – the oven temperature is 365 degrees? Thank you!
You got it! It is 365 degrees.
These cookies are magical. Thank you so much!
These really *are* the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever! So-o-o-o-o-o soft and chewy! After my 4th-count-em-4th cookie, I decided I would like a little crunch, so next time I’m adding a few nuts to the batter. I also had no idea of my raisins were plump and soft enough, LOL, so I used your hot water tip – wow! – what juicy fat little nuggets of deliciousness! These cookies really are decidedly more luxe than I was expecting them to be. I’m beginning to think that next time, in addition to a few nuts, I might make a brown sugar glaze to really top them off.
Thanks – as always – for another terrific recipe! And I’m sure some of my holiday guests – though they’ll be fewer this year than usual – will be thanking you as well!
My family of three devoured these in a couple days – but the 24th cookie remains mysteriously uneaten in the cookie bowl. Perhaps a tribute to our politeness? Or the misguided belief that the last cookie contains all the calories from the entire batch? Nevertheless, this recipe was a winner. We loved how much the cookies changed from when they first came out of the oven – soft, gooey, yum – to when they’d cooled – chewy, satisfying, with crispy edges. Your recipes produce consistent results so I get the impression you must be testing them well, something that definitely sets you apart from many other recipe bloggers. My wife even commented on the “uniformity” of the cookies’ appearance. As my 6-year-old likes to say, “it’s a make-again!”
What a kind comment! Thank you, Bill. I love the detailed comment and it made me laugh. The last cookie is definitely a tribute to your politeness! 🙂 I appreciate you trying them and for taking the time to comment. It made my day!
I have tried many of your recipes and all are great. In the cookie recipes, do I add more flour for high elevation ? Or anything different for higher elevation cookie baking
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I have been looking for a recipe for soft and chewy Oatmeal Raisin cookies and none has ever been. When you measure the brown sugar is it packed or just spooned into the measuring cup?
Hi Debra! That’s a great question. In all of my recipes, I pack down the brown sugar. I hope you love them!
With this oatmeal rasin cookie recipe, my question for you all, may I add walnuts, if so when and how much? Thank you
Hi Pauline! I would suggest folding in 1 1/2 cups of walnuts when you add the raisins. They will be delicious in this cookie!
Delicious! I added 1/2 cup of toasted pecan pieces. So good.
I was just thinking about a recipe for oatmeal raisin today and voila! the “cookie queen” delivers. Can’t wait to try this out!!
I am so glad we were on the same wavelength! Hahaha! It was about time to put my oatmeal raisin cookie on the blog. Thank you so much for following along! 🙂
I LOVE oatmeal raisin cookies, and I’ve been trying to tune my recipe and master the art. My struggle, however, is getting the butter and sugars whipped to my satisfaction. It never seem to get “light and fluffy” like everyone says. Sometimes its actually grainy. Then I read that you can overdo it, whip too much. Any special tricks? Thanks