Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Our oatmeal raisin cookie recipe has all the essential ingredients you’d expect from one of the most classic cookies ever created: old-fashioned oats, plump raisins, brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Love nuts? Add those, too! It’s hard to think of a time or place where a big plate of these cookies would not be welcome and promptly devoured.

While some bakery oatmeal cookies are thick with barely-baked middles, this oatmeal raisin cookie recipe takes a different approach. Shaping the dough before baking achieves the perfect thickness, giving the cookies crisp edges and soft centers. The cookies take only 30 minutes from mixing to baking—no overnight chilling required. That means you can dive into a fresh-from-the-oven batch of cookies faster than you can run to the store and back. It’s one of the best cookie recipes to keep around for bake sales, gifting or days that call for something homey and sweet.

Ingredients for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• Old-fashioned oats: These give oatmeal raisin cookies a chewy texture. If you have only quick-cooking oats, you can use them, but the cookies will be a little less chewy.
• Raisins: We love the sweetness and moisture a cup of raisins gives the cookies. Soaking them first plumps the raisins, making them extra juicy and flavorful.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar doesn’t just sweeten the cookies; its sharp crystals also create pockets of air when creamed with butter, resulting in lighter, more tender cookies.
• Light brown sugar: Brown sugar adds sweetness and helps make a moist cookie with a light molasses flavor. It’s also an acidic ingredient that activates the baking soda.
• Eggs: For best results with these cookies, use room-temperature eggs. Remove the eggs from the fridge about 30 minutes before you start the recipe.
• Shortening: Vegetable shortening in the batter creates soft, tender cookies. One difference between butter and shortening is that shortening doesn’t melt as fast, making the cookie dough easier to work with.
• Flour: All-purpose flour is best for this cookie recipe. Sift the flour with the other dry ingredients (using a sifter, strainer or whisk) to remove lumps and blend everything evenly.
• Baking soda: The acidic ingredients and heat of the oven activate baking soda, lifting the cookies and giving them a light, tender texture.
• Vanilla extract: A little vanilla extract does so much to make these cookies taste sublime! The best vanilla extracts have exceptional flavor and aroma while still being a good value for the price.
• Cinnamon: A teaspoon of cinnamon gives the cookies a hint of warm spice flavor that’s tasty with the raisins, oats and brown sugar.
• Pecans: For oatmeal raisin cookies with a crunch, add a cup of chopped pecans to the batter. Briefly toast the nuts in a pan beforehand. These are optional, so it’s OK to leave them out.
• Salt: Just a teaspoon of salt makes this oatmeal raisin cookie recipe taste better. Salt enhances the flavor of the rest of the ingredients—without it, the cookies taste flat and boring.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the wet ingredients

In a large bowl, cream the shortening with the granulated and brown sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Editor’s Tip: Before making the dough, preheat the oven to 350°F. You can line ungreased baking pans with parchment paper to make a nonstick surface. Also, have a large glass ready and grease the bottom of it—this will be used to shape the dough balls.

Step 2: Mix the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Step 3: Combine the wet and dry ingredients

Fold the dry mixture into the creamed mixture, stirring until the dough just comes together. Finally, fold in the oats, raisins and chopped pecans (if using them).

Step 4: Shape the cookies

Shape the cookie dough into 1-inch balls. Place the dough balls 2 inches apart on ungreased (or parchment-lined) baking sheets. Flatten each dough ball with the greased bottom of a drinking glass.

Editor’s Tip: If the cookie dough sticks to the greased glass, sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the dough ball and flatten it with an ungreased glass. Or flatten the dough balls with your hand.

Step 5: Bake the cookies

Bake the cookies until they’re just golden brown, 10 to 11 minutes. Do not overbake them. Remove the cookies and move them to a wire rack to cool.

Recipe Variations

• Try other raisin varieties: Swap regular raisins for golden raisins, currants or sultanas. For even sweeter cookies, try chocolate-covered or yogurt-covered raisins.
• Swap raisins for other dried fruit: Dried cranberries are delicious in these cookies. You can also try them with dried, chopped cherries, dates or apricots.
• Add coconut: Stir 1/2 cup of sweetened, shredded or flaked coconut into the dough for extra chewiness and tropical flavor.
• Change the nuts: Pecans have a natural sweetness that works well in oatmeal raisin cookie recipes, but other chopped nuts like walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts are tasty, too.
• Make them chocolaty: Substitute semisweet, milk or white chocolate chips for half or all of the raisins in the recipe.

How to Store Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The best way to store oatmeal raisin cookies is to layer them in an airtight container. It’s important to store cookies after they’re cool; closing up still-warm cookies is a common cookie storage mistake that can cause them to turn soggy. Cover the container tightly and store your cookies at room temperature. If you’re stacking the cookies inside the container, it’s best to store them with pieces of wax or parchment paper between the layers to keep them from sticking.

How long do oatmeal raisin cookies last?

Oatmeal raisin cookies will last for up to three weeks when stored at room temperature in a sealed container. To help keep them soft, store cookies with a slice or two of bread.

Can you freeze oatmeal raisin cookies?

You can freeze oatmeal raisin cookies for up to a year. To protect them from freezer burn, wrap the cooled cookies in storage wrap, which is a good idea any time you freeze cookies. Then, place them inside a freezer-proof container or resealable freezer bag. Let the cookies thaw while they’re still wrapped, either in the fridge or at room temperature.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Tips

Why are my oatmeal raisin cookies hard?

Oatmeal raisin cookie recipes like this should create soft, moist and chewy cookies. If your cookies are hard and brittle, they’re likely over-baked. Because you flatten the dough balls first, they bake fairly quickly. Start checking the cookies a few minutes before the end of the baking time, and pull them from the oven as soon as they’re golden brown. It’s also important to store the baked oatmeal raisin cookies in an airtight container so they don’t dry out.

How do you keep oatmeal raisin cookies from falling apart?

Shaping the dough will help oatmeal raisin cookies hold together once baked. Instead of scooping dough straight onto a baking sheet (the method for most drop cookie recipes), roll the dough in your hands to create a compact ball. Flattening the dough ball with a glass helps, too: It makes a thinner cookie and prevents under-baked centers that could cause the cookies to break after baking. If the just-baked cookies are difficult to move, let them cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack.

How do you keep oatmeal raisin cookies from spreading?

Our oatmeal raisin cookies recipe uses shortening instead of butter, which helps to keep them from spreading. If your first batch of cookies has spread more than you’d like, put the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. Chilling cookie dough helps to firm it up so it holds its shape more reliably during baking and can even improve the color and flavor of cookies.