Soft and chewy, old fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg! Delicious, homemade cookies like you enjoyed in childhood!
Love baking cookies? Try these soft and chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies for the perfect dessert. Or give our homemade Snickerdoodles a try today!
Why this Recipe is Best
There’s not much to say when it comes to Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. You either love them or you hate them.
I personally love the soft and chewy texture, the plump raisins, and the sweet hint of spice!
Today’s recipe is an updated version of my old oatmeal raisin cookie. I took that classic cookie and gave it a delicious upgrade.
Here’s why it works:
- Soft and Chewy middle
- Slight crunch to the outside and edges
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg spiced
- No Chill time
Ingredient Notes
Just the basics here…with a few key ingredients:
- Oats- we use old fashioned oats in this chewy cookie recipe. Don’t swap for steel cut or quick cook…you’ll end up with crunchy or dry cookies.
- Dark Brown Sugar- the key to that molasses flavor that keeps these cookies moist! If you swap it out for light brown sugar, add a Tablespoon of molasses too!
- Cornstarch- keeps these cookies soft for days!
- Raisins- use fresh! Or soak the raisins in warm water while your mixing up the cookie dough. This helps them plump up! You can also use golden raisins, which are moist and plump too.
- Cinnamon & Nutmeg- gives the perfect spice and flavor to these chewy cookies.
Tips and Tricks
- Start with melted butter and beat it with the sugar until fully blended and smooth.
- Unsalted butter and Old Fashioned Oats. This combination gives these cookies the perfect texture.
- Press extra raisins on top of the cookie dough balls before baking. Not only does this give extra raisin texture, but looks inviting too!
- Use fresh raisins. If you start with stale raisins, you’ll end with stale raisins. Using a combination of raisins and GOLDEN raisins is my favorite!
- Parchment paper or silpat baking mats keep your cookies from browning too much on the bottoms!
Recipe FAQs
Store oatmeal raisin cookies in airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
You CAN freeze Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! Slide baked cookies into ziploc freezer bag and squeeze out excess air. Store in freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature overnight and enjoy.
Overmixing can cause gluten to develop in the flour which results in dry cookies. Using stale raisins can also cause your cookies to taste hard.
Freezing Cookie Dough
Whether I’m making pudding cookies or cake mix cookies, freezing cookie dough is something I do every time.
Why not double the cookie recipe and freeze half the dough? Or if today’s recipe is too much for your family, freeze some!
Of course you can freeze the baked cookies, but have you ever frozen cookie dough balls instead?
- Line a metal cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil. Drop cookie dough balls onto pan and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Remove cookie dough from freezer and slide partially frozen cookie dough balls into freezer safe ziploc container (in a single layer).
- Label ziploc with type of cookie and baking time.
- Return to freezer.
- When ready to bake, just place frozen cookie dough balls 1 1/2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake according to recipe directions. You may need to add a couple minutes for frozen dough.
Substitutions
Using our favorite oatmeal cookie base, you can make some of my other favorite cookies!
- Chocolate. Of course you could easily swap out the raisins for chocolate chips and make oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Still soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, but without the raisins!
- White Chocolate. You can also use dried cranberries instead of raisins if you’d prefer, and add in some white chocolate chips. YUM. These White Chocolate Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies are one of my favorites!
- Butterscotch. Or use butterscotch chips and make yourself a batch of these classic Oatmeal Scotchies.
More Classic Cookie Recipes
- The best, chewy Sugar Cookies with a no-chill dough. Topped with a creamy sugar cookie icing, you’ll love this Copycat Swig Sugar Cookie recipe!
- These Easy Traditional Kolachky Cookies Recipe for Christmas have a melt in your mouth cookie base and are topped with sweet preserves. Don’t forget the extra powdered sugar!
- This Monster Cookie recipe is full of M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter and oats for a cookie that is fun, chewy and delicious! Easy to make and perfect for sharing or freezing!
- Easy recipe for No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies! The peanut butter with chocolate and oats gives these cookies so much flavor!
- Delicious, copycat Iced Oatmeal Cookies. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, these glazed Oatmeal cookies are a hit!
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 ½ cups packed DARK brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 2 cups raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat melted butter with brown sugar for about two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat for an additional minute.
- Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, kosher salt, and cornstarch. Mix on low just until combined.
- Add in old fashioned oats and combine on low speed. Fold in all but 1/4 cup of raisins.
- Drop cookie dough by 2 Tablespoon scoop onto baking sheet. Press several raisins firmly into the top of the cookie dough.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes. DO not overbake. The edges will beging to brown and the middle of the cookie may seem underbaked, but will continue to cook when removed from oven.
- Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
Notes
- STORAGE: Store cookies in airtight container for up to 4 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
- OATS: Do not substitute quick cook oats. They will absorb the moisture in the cookie and result in a dry, crumbly texture.
- RAISINS: For best results, use fresh raisins. Or use a combination of raisins and GOLDEN raisins! To get plump raisins, soak raisins in warm water while you’re making the cookie dough!
- Dark Brown Sugar- the key to that molasses flavor that keeps these cookies moist! If you swap it out for light brown sugar, add a Tablespoon of molasses too!
- Cornstarch- keeps these cookies soft for days!
The description above the recipe say’s soften butter, but the recipe says melted butter. Hope it’s melted? Game changer if melted. These would be some faster to make. Thanks
These look so yummy. I like a thick chewy cookie if I eat one.
I hope you try them!!
I just made your Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe tonight. I only made half because I wanted to see if I liked it. It certainly has good flavor! Boy does those 2 tablespoons spread on a cookie sheet! They made about a 3″ cookie for me. I have alpha gal allergy and can not have anything from a mammal. The butter really does make this cookie sing. I think next time I am going to try Crisco butter flavor shortening since the butter totally makes me wheeze Grrrr. I know shortening will not make them spread as much but that’s ok.
I did soak my raisins in hot water but not for the usual reasons. I didn’t have any fresh they were getting pretty dry and sugary. Put in hot water then nuked in microwave 1 minute and waited 10 to make sure they were nice and soft.
They are a very soft cookie. After letting them cool and dry a bit they would hold together good. It is a very humid 80+% humidity in Oklahoma so made them extra moist! Reminded me of a thinner Grandma’s cookie! the spice was noticeable but not over powering it was just right!
I can add coconuts, chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit. I can have all kinds of fun with these cookies.
I just need to figure out how to firm them up so they can ship out of state and arrive in one piece and not in crumbs.
Thank you for a fun and good recipe!
I’m so happy to hear you loved them!
These cookies were such a huge hit here! The family absolutely loved them and couldn’t get enough! We have a couple leftovers and they are still so delicious!
These are my all time favorite cookies ever. I love this recipe so much!
Love the hint of cinnamon & nutmeg. They are the perfect combination & so chewy! Making some for my dad, who loves them!
Looking for a good molasses ginger cookie with lot. Of kracks you see them in the better bakeries
Can you use butter in place of Crisco?
These are wonderful! I baked them a couple of days ago and the leftovers are still wonderfully chewy and soft.
That’s great to hear 🙂
Can regular oats be used instead of Quick oats? I never have the quick on hand. Thank you.
Absolutely a keeper !
I make this with a combo pack from Trader Joe’s that has golden raisins ,blue berries, cherries, and craisin’s Its delicious.
You can’t beat a classic oatmeal raisin cookie! So chewy and delicious!