Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Professional tips for the best oatmeal raisin cookies:

• Carefully measure: That thick, chewy center is all about the ratio of butter to flour. Furthermore, the crunchiness of the outside is due to the ratio of light brown sugar to granulated sugar, so measuring is key!
• Cream properly: In order to get that light, sweet texture you want to properly cream your butter and sugar until they are light and fluffy. 
• Freeze before baking: To get the fattest, chewiest cookies possible, you really must take the extra step and freeze the dough before baking. In my oatmeal raisin cookie video tutorial, you’ll see that I froze them directly on a baking sheet in a single layer. This is a trick that helps them freeze in under 30 minutes! Make extra and store them in your freezer so you can have freshly baked cookies anytime you want!

Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Ingredients

• All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to make a perfectly chewy cookie.
• Baking Soda: Baking soda reacts more powerfully than baking powder and will therefore create a more dramatic rise, but it will not continue to react in the heat of the oven or without the presence of an acid.
• Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is less salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It heightens the flavor here and will keep your cookies from tasting dull or flat.
• Cinnamon: I use Saigon cinnamon but any cinnamon will be lovely.
• Ground Nutmeg: This recipe is written for pre-ground nutmeg. If you use freshly ground, then you’ll need to adjust the quantity by half. Fresh nutmeg has a wonderful flavor but it is stronger.
• Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. Every brand is different and it makes adjusting the recipe a challenge. I use butter for flavor, which is why I don’t use shortening in my oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.
• Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar is here for sweetness, but if you add too much in proportion to the butter and flour, the cookies will spread rather than stay tall and chewy.
• Light Brown Sugar: Using light brown sugar adds sweetness along with a little moisture. This will keep the cookies softer while offering a nice, rich molasses flavor.
• Whole Egg: The eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cookies chewy. Beating in the eggs just enough will add a little or a lot of leavening depending on the desired texture. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
• Old Fashioned Oats: Whole rolled oats are a major dry ingredient in these cookies. They are gluten free and they act as a dry binder for all the wet ingredients. If you want a completely uniform batter, you can use quick oats instead.
• Raisins: Raisins add a little sweetness and a wonderful soft chewy texture to these cookies. Use any brand of raisins but be sure to check the ingredients for additional, unnecessary, added sugar.

Variations

• Old Fashioned: If you’re feeling extra old-fashioned, these old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies were inspired by my Grandma’s recipe!
• Bite-sized: You can opt to make smaller (or maybe even ‘regular-sized’) cookies! Just portion and roll each ball of cookie dough smaller. They will taste just as delightful, as long as you remember to shorten your bake time.
• Chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies: This cookie dough, as written, is jam-packed with mix-ins already, so why not add some chocolate chips? You can safely add a ½ cup of chocolate chip to this recipe! Use any leftover chocolate chips in a batch of my thick chewy chocolate chip cookies. 
• Rum raisin oatmeal cookies: In a small bowl place raisins and rum, a good ratio is 2 tablespoons of dark rum for every ½ cup of raisins; soak until the raisins are plump and the rum is almost completely absorbed. Just like in my Brown Butter Rum Raisin Banana Bread, you can speed up this process by placing the raisin and rum in a small saucepan over low heat. If you choose to use the heating method, add an extra tablespoon of rum. You don’t want to boil them and make sure they are cool before adding to the batter!

Substitutions

• Different dried fruit: If you want that trademark homemade oatmeal cookie, but raisins are not your thing, not to worry! You can substitute the raisins with a dried fruit of your choosing, like cranberries or chopped dried mango or apricot. Visit my tropical overnight oats recipe for some inspiration!
• Alternate spices: Though classic oatmeal-raisin cookies have cinnamon, you could replace it with your favorite secret ingredient such as pumpkin spice mix or apple pie spice mix. I won’t tell if you don’t!
• Soft healthy oatmeal raisin cookies: You could make a gluten-free dairy free iteration of these by ensuring that your oats are gluten free, using Cup 4 Cup Gluten Free Flour instead of all-purpose, and substituting the butter for a vegetable shortening. This isn’t my area of specialty, so I haven’t tried it in my kitchen yet, but feel free to let me know in the comments what ends up delivering the best cookies!

How to Make the Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Use these instructions to make the very best oatmeal raisin cookies every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!

Make the cookie dough:

Step 1: Temp the butter. This simply means taking your butter and either leaving it on the counter in advance or slightly warming it up. We want it to be slightly softened, and cold but still pliable.

Step 2: Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl; set aside.

Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and butter until light. Turn the mixer up and add the eggs one at a time. Turn the mixture down again to a low speed and add your flour mixture slowly.

Step 4: Once the flour mixture is completely incorporated, add the oats and raisins. Mix just to combine (we don’t want to over-mix the dough here!). 

Portion, freeze, and bake:

Step 5: Scoop or spoon out large cookie dough portions, approximately the size of half a tennis ball (70g). Shape into spheres and then freeze. You can store them in a zip-top bag in the freezer for several months if desired.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 325°F convection, if possible. If you do not have a convection setting on your oven, preheat to 350°F.

Step 7: Arrange cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake them from frozen in the preheated oven for 20-23 minutes, or until the outsides are golden brown and the centers no longer look raw.