These ultra-chewy oatmeal raisin cookies are your next hit! After all, who doesn’t love this classic, cozy dessert?

THE INGREDIENTS: 

Raisins: What kind of oatmeal raisin cookie would it be without raisins? A sad one, let us tell you! We recommend using 1 ½ cups of raisins for a cookie that does not feel like it is missing out in raisins in the slightest! If you prefer the “oatmeal” part to be a bit more forward, feel free to reduce this to one cup. If you want even more raisins, we believe this cookie would still be a success all the way up to 2 cups of raisins! 

Don’t have raisins on hand? No problem. We like to use cut up dates as a perfect substitute. Otherwise, check out what other dried fruit you have on hand. This cinnamon and oatmeal base pairs wonderfully with just about any dried fruit, from dried apricot to dried strawberries or prunes. Just cook your pantry out! 

All-Purpose Flour: Flour is our structure that not only helps to hold our cookie together, but provides the foundation for the soft, chewy bite that many have come to love. Each flour has differing percentages of protein and other components. So, we cannot recommend substituting this flour for another kind. A common substitute is adding cornstarch to all purpose flour to make cake flour. Although we have cornstarch in our recipe, it is not in a large enough quantity to approximate cake flour-so do not substitute, please! 

Oats: Without oats, is an oatmeal raisin cookie even worth eating? We’ve all probably experienced it. We bite into an oatmeal raisin cookie and we’re like, “where are the oats”? It just tastes cakey and you can’t even see them. Not with this cookie! Not only do we have a large oat-to-flour ratio, but let us tell you another secret. We do NOT use quick oats! Although quick oats are handy for quick breakfasts, they are cut into smaller pieces than traditional oats. This means they stand out less when baked with, almost mixing into the flour itself. You can use what you have on hand, but please know the oats will be less apparent. To try to make up for this, you can add an extra ¼ cup to ½ cup of quick oats to this recipe. 

White Sugar: You probably want your cookies to be sweet, and we are right there with you! We like to use a mixture of white sugar and brown sugar in this recipe to get the optimal flavor and texture. First, let’s highlight the benefits of adding white sugar to our oatmeal raisin cookies. White sugar keeps our cookies from having the texture of cake by not over-adding moisture. Not only that, but white sugar also helps to give us the crisp edges we want and helps our cookies to spread. 

Brown Sugar: Now that we know what white sugar does for this oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, what’s up with brown sugar? Due to the presence of molasses, brown sugar adds moisture-giving our cookies a soft, chewier interior. That same molasses also provides a wonderful flavor that goes very well with the cinnamon in our cookies! 

Cornstarch: Now this ingredient is the odd one out! Cornstarch is not a super common ingredient in cookie recipes. However, hear us out! It is our little secret ingredient that gives us that bakery-level softness in the middle of our cookies. Without it, the cookies also wouldn’t be as tall! Less dough in the center=less softness and less chew so height is a must. Not sure yet? We’re not the only ones who have found this secret!

Baking Soda: We’re going for cookies, not hockey pucks. Baking soda helps to add rise to our cookies and is activated by the slightly acidic brown sugar in this recipe. 

Cinnamon: We wanted to keep it simple with how we add flavor to these cookies! Cinnamon and oats are a classic pairing that bring a cozy feeling to any day. Want to mix things up? Try doing ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp allspice, and ½ tsp nutmeg. Now, it is an oatmeal raisin spice cookie! 

Salt: This secret weapon helps to balance all the flavors in our cookie recipe. Feel free to increase or decrease as desired, but we think you’ll be happy with the amount we chose. 

Vanilla: Vanilla stands out well in this recipe! It blends with the cinnamon and the brown sugar flavor to make this cookie flavorful. 

Milk: Can we have two secret ingredients? Well, we do anyway. Milk provides similar benefits to cornstarch, ensuring a soft and chewy cookie. It also helps to add more liquid to our dough, which means we don’t need to add as much oil-so, it saves us from cookies that are too oily! 

Eggs: A classic! Eggs bind our dry and wet ingredients together, while also providing moisture to our dough and structure to our cookies. They help to keep our cookies from crumbling, in short. 

Vegetable Oil: Ok, ok, maybe three secret ingredients. You were expecting butter, weren’t you? Surprise! Oil helps the cookies spread less than butter, giving us that large and chewy center. Not only that, but it also helps to add softness throughout the entire cookie. If you were wanting to use butter, we would recommend 2 sticks of melted butter. Although we don’t chill our dough, you may want to chill dough with melted butter to ensure too much spreading doesn’t occur! 

KEY INFORMATION: 

What is the Best Temperature to Bake Cookies? 325 or 350 (Fahrenheit), that is the question! From our experience, 15 minutes at 325 Fahrenheit for a 3-inch scoop cookie led to a crisper exterior and a softer center. 12 minutes 350 Fahrenheit for a 3-inch scoop cookie, however, led to a chewier cookie throughout and more browning. With that being said, if we weren’t specifically paying attention, we could probably eat both cookies and not notice the temperature difference effects! Both have softness and plenty of chew. 

How do I Make Soft and Chewy Cookies? You need to add three things: cornstarch, milk, and melted fat. Brown sugar helps, too, if you want to ensure the cookies are soft enough. Just a little cornstarch (2 teaspoons) and milk (2 tablespoons), as well as roughly ¾ to 1 cup of your choice of melted fat (butter or oil) per roughly 2.5 cups of flour. 

Can I use Quick Oats Instead of Oats in Baking? Yes, you can, but with one tradeoff. Quick oats often “blend in” with whatever you are making, so the oats don’t really stand out. This can lead to cakier cookies, for example. To make up for quick oat’s smaller, cut up pieces, we recommend adding an additional ¼ to ½ cup of quick oats to any recipe that calls for standard oats. 

Can I Substitute Oil For Butter in Cookies? Yes, ¾ cup of oil equals roughly 1 cup of melted butter. However, bear in mind that this will affect your texture! Butter-based cookies spread a bit more and are a bit more crisp. 

What Flavor Variations of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Are There? Well, as many variations as there are kinds of dried fruit in your pantry! Replace the raisins with dates, prunes, or even dried strawberries for a fruity twist! If you want more than fruit in your cookies, chocolate chips and nuts go well with the oaty base. You could even add some peanut butter! Want something slightly changed yet leaning classic? Try adding new spices-such as nutmeg and allspice-to make a spice cookie instead of just an oatmeal raisin cookie. 

How Long Do Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Last? Stored in a covered container at room temperature, we would say these cookies last around 3 days, 5 if you put in a little extra work to keep them moist! Try storing them with a spare piece of bread-the bread will transfer its moisture to the cookies. Replace the bread as often as it gets hard. 

How Can I Soften Up Hard Cookies? Have no fear, though, if your cookies get hard before you’re done eating them! Simply add around 1 teaspoon of water on top of the cookie and heat it in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Still hard? More water, more warmth. If you’re patient, you could even use the oven instead of the microwave! 

What Goes With Oatmeal Raisin Cookies? Let’s start with drinks, shall we? Oatmeal raisin cookies are cookies that scream “tea!” (unless you like your cookies with a glass of milk). We recommend apple cinnamon tea to double down on that spice flavor. Other good teas are chai, black tea with an underlying (not main!) orange flavor, or ginger tea. Honestly, any warmly spiced tea will do! Looking for more dessert pairings to finish up a cozy dinner? We like ice cream-vanilla or honeycomb, especially. Otherwise, you could cook some apples or peaches with warm spices and sugar/honey. Encourage guests or family members to crumble their cookies as a topping-customizable fruit crisp night! 

How Can I Make A Cookie Assortment? It’s very important to have drastically different flavors in a successful cookie tin. It not only provides lots of different visuals, but ensures there is a flavor everyone will like in there! Try pairing our Chocolate Almond Thumbprint Cookies with these oatmeal raisin cookies for a true success.