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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.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I struggle with most cookie recipes, and am at about 4,000 ft. elevation which can make recipes challenging. This one came out great, all I did to modify for the altitude was add 1T extra of vanilla.
Merry Christmas!
Everything is true about this recipe flavor, 24 cookies, etc.
I had to add about 3 minutes cook time but my oven always takes longer.
I substituted 1/2 cup of honey for the sugar,
I added some walnuts and chocolate chunks 72% cacao and 1/4 tsp of baking powder.
Modern Honey cookie recipes are 3 for 3 for me! (The Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies, and The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies). They are all 5 star cookies!
I just made The Best Oatmeal Cookies and even though my husband and I are not huge raisin fans, we both LOVED this recipe! I did use cinnamon in the recipe as I am a huge cinnamon lover. I also microwaved my raisins in water to plump and soften them (googled how to plump and soften raisins), and think I will cut the raisins back to 1 1/2 cup on my next batch because it did make the raisins a bit bigger. I am going to make these a larger cookie (4” x 4” finished) to serve at a bridal shower brunch. I am sure they will be a big hit! Thanks for all the fabulous cookie recipes!!!!!
These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies!! So delish and plump and chewy and tasty. Our favs!!! Love your cookie recipes. I’m a fan!!!! 😊
Yep, these are a winner! So flavorful, chewy and all around amazing!! My new go to oatmeal raisin for sure.
Not even the biggest oatmeal raisin cookie fan but this recipe was AMAZING!! Pretty sure I ate 5 cookies in one sitting lol.
Hi! I’m about to make this recipe but there’s no instructions about how to shape them! Do you spoon them and they spread? Should we make them as balls? Or do you flatten them?
Thank you!
I drop them in rough spoonfuls and they spread in the oven. Make sure to leave enough space between the drops. Good luck!
What’s the difference between this and the levain oatmeal cookies? I’m a huge fan of oatmeal raisin and don’t know which to try. I’ve tried something similar before but the cookies ended up being super thick and way to hard to eat without microwaving it first, which is why i don’t try levain cookies anymore. And what about using brown butter instead?
Hi, just wondering if I soaked the raisin in hot water, wouldn’t they lose their flavor? And do you need to dry it first before adding?
These are definitely the best oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve ever made…thank you for sharing this recipe. 🙂
Even at 11 minutes, 5 minutes on cookie sheet and 15 minutes on cooling rack, still a bit underdone. I will see what happens tomorrow. That may be the best day.