The must-have oatmeal cookie recipe. Easy to make with simple ingredients. Old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies have crispy edges, soft and chewy centers. Just like grandma made with hints of molasses and cinnamon.
Soft and chewy oatmeal cookies made with old-fashioned rolled oats, brown sugar, vanilla, molasses, and cinnamon. Prep ahead and stock your freezer with homemade cookie dough.
While we love raisins for this recipe, other great mix-ins are walnuts, dried cranberries and chocolate chips.
Prep ahead, make the cookie dough and scoop it onto half sheet pans. Refrigeration allows the flour to fully hydrate, ensuring cookies keep their shape and prevents them from spreading too much.
Some of our most-popular cookie recipes are peanut butter cookies, chocolate chunk cookies, Snickerdoodles, molasses cookies, and oatmeal cream cookies.
Why this recipe works
- Nostalgic – Classic oatmeal cookies that are perfectly soft & chewy with crispy edges.
- Easy to make – Simple ingredients, readily available in your pantry. Achieve perfect cookies each and every time.
- Soft, buttery & flavorful – Incredible flavor with hints of molasses. Old-fashioned rolled oats keep them soft.
- Texture – Chewy, soft and plump raisins with slightly crispy edges. We love adding 60% chocolate chips.
What you’ll need
- Unsalted butter – Unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in a recipe. Let it soften overnight on the counter.
- All-purpose flour – Use a high-quality brand such as Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar – The combination of both keeps oatmeal cookies soft and spread properly.
- Eggs – Acts as a binder, keeping the cookie dough together and makes them soft.
- Vanilla extract – Use a high-quality brand, adds a depth of flavor.
- Molasses – Molasses adds a depth of flavor and helps the cookies spread nicely.
- Baking powder & soda – Leavening agents help the cookies rise.
- Salt – Added to baking recipes, it heightens the flavor of sweets.
How to make oatmeal raisin cookies
- Make the dough – In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs, vanilla and molasses. Gradually incorporate the flour, rolled oats, salt, baking powder and soda. Mix until incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure everything is mixed thoroughly. Add the raisins, chocolate chips and combine. - Scoop cookies and refrigerate – Scoop out cookie dough using an ice cream scoop and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan, placing cookie rounds right up against each other. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
- Place cookie rounds on sheet pans – Place cookie rounds evenly on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper leaving a little bit of space in between each cookie. 8-9 cookies will fit on a half sheet pan.
- Bake – Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 14-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
For oatmeal cookies – I use this cookie scoop. Make a big batch of cookies and scoop them onto a half sheet pan, cover with a plastic sheet pan cover, refrigerate for a few hours or freeze.
Oatmeal cookie dough can be rather sticky, so the cookie scoop helps you easily scoop even cookie rounds.
Keep in mind, every oven is different. Rotating baking pans from top to bottom rack and bottom to top, plus rotating sheet pans 180 degrees about half way through baking helps cookies bake more evenly.
8-9 cookies fit perfectly on a half sheet pan. Using a scoop will help you achieve more uniform cookies.
Benefits of refrigerating cookie dough
Refrigerating cookie dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps prevent cookies from spreading too much while baking. Leading to a more flavorful and chewy cookie.
More cookie recipes
- Peanut butter cookies
- Peanut butter blossoms
- Chocolate chunk cookies
- Snickerdoodle cookie recipe
- Old fashioned molasses cookies
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Lemon crinkle cookies
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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chocolate chips (60% cocoa)
- ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar.
- Add the vanilla, molasses and one egg at a time and combine.
- Add the flour, rolled oats, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine thoroughly. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula. Add the raisins, chocolate chips and combine.
- Scoop out cookie dough using an ice cream scoop and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan, placing cookie rounds right up against each other. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. (Or transfer the cookie dough into a large zip-style freezer bag and refrigerate, scooping cookies the next day.)
- Place cookie rounds evenly on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper leaving a little bit of space in between each cookie. 8-9 cookies will fit on a half sheet pan.
- Bake in a preheated 375-degree F oven for about 14-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Turn the sheet pans around half way through baking.
- The cookies will look soft, but will set while cooling. Let cool on a sheet pan until set (about 10 minutes) before removing with a spatula to cool completely on a wire baking rack.
- Store any remaining cookies in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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