Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
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Soft, chewy reader favourite oatmeal raisin cookies with rolled oats, cinnamon and raisins throughout. With a soft middle, golden brown chewy edges and incredible easy to prep these cookies are a staple.
These cookies can be made, baked and eaten within the hour – and you can also prep them and make ahead of time as they freeze really well.
Notes from The Patisserie
These are a happy marriage of my NYC chocolate chip cookies and my chocolate oat cookies that have been on my blog for a few years… but just take out the chocolate and add in the raisins.
Oatmeal raisin cookies have been around for ages, but they are a cult classic that I wanted to be involved with, because they are delicious. These cookies are different from the rest as they merge the styles of a thick NYC-style cookie, with the classic – think better texture, larger cookies, even better bake.
What makes this recipe different to others?
The recipe is basically very similar to my NYC cookies, because this is essentially just an oat & raisin version of them. The base remains very similar, but some of the flour has been removed and replaced with oats.
I’ve seen varying recipes for these over the years, with some using far more oats, and some using far less – but I found my personal favourite was a 50/50 mix! You get enough oats for that delicious flavour, but also enough flour to make sure it remains a good cookie.
The texture for these is lovely and soft, but the outside is quite chewy – and that’s the best thing ever. The raisins give a softer texture, just like you would get with chocolate chips (side note, if you don’t like raisins, you can use chocolate chips in them!).
If you wanted to hydrate your raisins before baking, which is a common ask, you can soak them in hot water (or orange juice), for 10-15 minutes, or heat them in the microwave for 30-60 seconds and let them cool before using) – this adds extra moisture to your raisins and an even softer cookie. Make sure to pat them dry slightly before using so they are sopping wet.
Ingredient notes and tips
Like my other cookies, I love the two different sugars in the mix – the light brown sugar gives a lovely flavour, and the granulated sugar is ideal for the cookie. You can use all light brown sugar, or all white granulated sugar.
You can sub the sugars for dark brown sugar too – but generally I avoid caster sugar when it comes to cookies these days as I find it can spread too much and can create a cakey texture. For the best texture, I recommend the granulated/soft sugar sizes as it really does just create the best texture for your cookies.
When it comes to the dry ingredients for these cookies, they do swap up slightly to take in the consideration of the oats. I use plain flour, and add in baking powder – but you can use 150g of self raising, and remove the baking powder from the recipe. Make sure to still use the bicarbonate of soda however.
One thing that is different with these, is they can feel slightly softer. I use rolled oats, as I much prefer them in baking to porridge oats which I find can be too soft and can make a softer cookie – so rolled oats is best.
Tips to make these oatmeal raisin cookies the best
The full recipe and method can be found in the recipe card below
I tend to weigh the cookies out to 85g each (slightly smaller than the NYC cookies, but you can make them even smaller or bigger if you wish – weight to 120g, and bake for 12-14 minutes) – and then I freeze them for 30 minutes before baking. However, you can use the fridge for an hour instead.
I find using a 5cm scoop and just loading it slightly makes it easier to portion when weighing, but obviously just scooping with a spoon and weighing works really well. It’s important to chill the dough so that they don’t completely spread into pancakes.
You have to make sure that the oven is preheated to the hot temperature before baking the cookies as this is going to help create the texture that you are after – it will give the cookies a lovely golden glow and bake them perfectly.
FAQs
Yes, you can! Remove the extra salt in the recipe
You can, but the smaller/quick oats will likely make a softer cookie dough, and make them spread more so the texture and end result will be different.
No, you do not. You can leave it out, or swap to a preferred spice.
For sure – you can swap to sultanas, cranberries, or even a mix of all dried fruits
Definitely! Either substitute some of the raisins for chopped nuts, or add 100g.
This is usually because the cookie dough has been rolled too tightly before baking, or your oven temperature needs lowering (all ovens vary, so try 20ºc less)
Yes!! You can, double, triple, or even quadruple – just make sure to mix well so everything is incorporated.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 125 g unsalted butter
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 75 g white granulated sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla (optional!)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional!)
- 150 g plain flour
- 150 g rolled oats
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 200 g raisins
Instructions
- Add the butter and sugars to a bowl and beat until creamy
- Add in the egg, and beat again. If using the vanilla and cinnamon, add it in now
- Add in the plain flour, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt and beat until a cookie dough is formed
- Add in the raisins and beat until they're distributed well
- Weigh the cookies out into ten cookie dough balls – they're about 85g each! (Or you can do them smaller at about 60g, or even bigger at 120g)
- Roll your cookie dough into balls (don't roll it too tightly as this can cause problems with the cookie spreading) and put your cookie dough in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or in the fridge for an hour or so
- Whilst the cookie dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan. If your oven runs hot, go for 160ºc-170ºc.
- Take the cookies out of the freezer/fridge and put onto a lined baking tray. I put five cookies per tray
- Bake the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
- Once baked, leave them to cool on the tray for at least 30 minutes, as they will continue to bake whilst cooling!
- ENJOY!
Notes
- These cookies will last for 4-5 days once baked at room temperature
- You can freeze the baked cookies for 3+ months
Storage and making ahead
- These cookies will last for 4-5 days once baked at room temperature – I tend to store in a cake tin, or cake box.
- You can freeze the baked cookies for 3+ months – freeze on a tray, and then swap to a more permanent storage such as bag or freezer safe container.
- The cookies can easily be kept frozen for up to three months before baking, and you can bake from frozen. The baking time will just increase ever so slightly to probably more 14-15 minutes, but otherwise you will get the same epic result of a delicious cookie
Related recipes
After the recent successes of my red velvet NYC cookies, triple chocolate NYC cookies and of course… the classic NYC chocolate chip cookies all I had was request after request for an oat & raisin version… and here we are.
If you want to make a sourdough discard version of this recipe, have a look at this recipe instead. They are also a chewy oatmeal raisin cookie, but with a twist.
Thank you for making me look like I can bake!! I’ve made these a few times now and family and friends can’t get enough of them.
Made these and the NYC chocolate chip cookies for work, they were absolutely incredible!! I adore oat & raisin cookies anyway and these were better than any I’ve had from shops! Absolutely cannot wait to make these again, just gorgeous. Already recommended this recipe to family, friends and colleagues since baking them yesterday. 🙂
Can i add pecans to this for a bit of a crunch?
Yes!! That would be yummy!
Fantastic recipe – so lush!! Just one q, have you got the calorie info and breakdown?
Hi Jane. Do you recommend soaking the raisins in hot water (or rum) beforehand? Thanks
I don’t personally, they don’t need it!
These were nearly amazing but for some reason I could really taste the baking powder 😔 will try them with sr flour next time. What does the bicarb do? x
Bicarb and baking powder are different forms of raising agents and react to different ingredients in the recipe to work – bicarb is in all of my cookies x
Thanks – I read that it’s normally used as a raising agent combined with an acid, e.g yoghurt or vinegar which activates it, so was a bit puzzled by it here. I made your gingerbread cookies and they were amazing, no baking powder taste. Will defo make again but try without the b powder.
Hi Jane
This has become one of our favourite cookie recipes – the oats, raisins and cinnamon are just a perfect combination. I was thinking about using this as a base for a millionaires traybake – I know you have responded to a couple of people about it working as a cookie bar – would you make it with softened butter as the recipe states and just bake it into a 9″ square tin or would you suggest swapping to melted butter like you do in your cookie bar recipes? x
I would just stick to the recipe as it is to be honest so keep the butter the same!! x
Thank you – I gave it a go today and it turned out perfectly! x
Mine are just cooling on the tray they look delish cant wait to dig in! Thank you Jane x
Hi Jane, can you tell me where the nutritional info is on your recipes? I used to see this info bit cant find it on any of your recipes anymore
Could you replace the raisins with carrot to make carrot cake cookies?
I made a batch with the cinammom and vanilla and these are so delicious. I didn’t have any raisins so used sultanas which were lovely. Will definitely make these again. Crispy on the outside and perfectly gooey on the inside.
Hi, I’ve just made a batch of these cookies. The texture is amazing! We would’ve wolfed them down Asap but unfortunately they were far too salty, I followed the recipe exactly too.
What type of salt did you use? I find finely grained salt such as table salt can be a lot stronger and not very nice tasting!
Amazing, easy to follow taste just amazing