Gemma’s Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies
Save RecipeThe chewiest, tastiest, and easiest oatmeal cookies ever!
Hi Bold Bakers!
No cookie you can buy at the store compares to the flavor and chewy texture of a warm homemade Oatmeal cookie. The recipe for my Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies makes the tastiest oatmeal cookies, featuring toasty rolled oats, chewy plump raisins, and a sweet cinnamon-y center.
Made in one bowl by hand and baked in only 10 minutes, these cookies aren’t just my Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies because of the flavor, but also because of the ease. I don’t know of a better, or more satisfying, cookie!
What are the ingredients for oatmeal cookies?
I don’t know about you, but oats are a staple in my cupboard.
These oatmeal cookies have loads of rolled oat, sweet raisins, and the rest are the usual suspects. To make these cookies I combine flour and cinnamon, which give the cookie a lovely hint of warmth and spice. Then, I cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. I add the flour and cinnamon mixture to the fluffy butter and sugar then fold in the oats and raisins.
This one-bowl-wonder perfectly balances flavor and texture, which is really what makes it the Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies. The oats and raisins are crunchy and chewy while the brown and white sugar add depth of flavor. All of these components create irresistibly chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.
Are oatmeal cookies good for you?
These cookies have an added bonus: My Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies are packed with a cup and a half of oats and only 3/4 cup of flour.
Oats are one of my favorite ways of getting in some stick-to-your-ribs nutrition. Oats are full of healthy fiber and keep you fuller longer. Sweet raisins, instead of chocolate chips, mean no extra added sugar or fats. The combination of these two ingredients not only gives these chewy cookies their signature flavor, but bump these oatmeal raisin cookies into a healthier territory.
[ Healthy recipes can be fun, easy, and delicious! Try my Healthy Chocolate Banana Bread too! ]
What makes a cookie chewy?
What gives these cookies their extra chew, besides the obvious rolled oats and raisins, is the combination of white and brown sugar.
When creamed with the butter the white sugar adds crunch to the outside of the cookie as it caramelizes super fast. The brown sugar has more moisture, and that molasses flavor, which when combined with white sugar creates the chewiest bite at the cookie’s center.
Get Even More Cookie Recipes:
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Chewy, tasty, and healthier than a lot of other options, my Best-Ever Oatmeal Cookies will knock your socks off!
- 1/2 cup (4oz/115g) butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (4z/115g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (3oz/85g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg*
- 3/4 cup (3 3/4oz/105g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups (4 1/12oz/128g) rolled oats
- 2/3 cup (3 1/3oz/94g) raisins
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Pre-heat your oven to 375oF (190oC). Then line to large cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
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In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients, apart from the sugars. Set aside.
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In a large bowl cream together the butter, white and brown sugar. Once light and fluffy add the egg and the vanilla and whip until combined
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Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix with a spatula until the flour has just absorbed, do not over mix.
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Lastly, fold in the oats and the raisins.
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using a tablespoon measure scoop heaped tablespoons of the cookie dough onto your lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 to 2 inches between the cookies.
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Bake for about 9-10 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and slightly risen. Don't be tempted to bake for longer or you will loose the gooey center.
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Allow the cookies to cool slightly before transferring on to a wire rack to cool fully. Enjoy!
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Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.
Watch the Recipe Video!
This dough also freezes really well for up to 3 months. Scoop it and freeze in balls so you can just take them out, defrost, and bake! 🙂
*Don't eat eggs? Use my egg substitute chart for cookies!
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!
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Hi Gemma,
I tried your recipe and the cookies tasted delicious. I did not have cinnamon so i skipped that. Only thing is they were not crisp on the outside. Just soft all over. Also my convection oven doesn’t have the option of 190° so i baked at 180° for 12 mins. How long do you think i should bake them for? .
Thanks,
Love from India!
Around that time should work. Just make sure to keep a good eye on it! Gemma 😊
My husband & I love these cookies! Easy to make & bake. Froze some of them, also. I can’t wait for fresh cookies whenever we want.
Glad that you and your husband enjoy these! Gemma 😊
Hi Gemma,
I want to know if the oats you used in the recipe were toasted and if you had coarsely ground them before adding to the recipe. Thanks.
Hi there,
no, the oats were not toasted. Oats, as we know them for eating, are divided into three types.
1. Steel cut oats- porridge oats, these are the least processed, though all are processed to a degree.
2. Rolled oats, again, porridge oats, more processed, and the ones I would generally use for these cookies.
3. Instant oats, the type you just add hot milk to, easy for kids breakfast. These are highly processed and almost powdered in some cases.
Steel cut oats tend to be less absorbent than rolled oats unless they are cooked as porridge. Great added to bread, other breakfast cereals, granola, etc. and delicious toasted.
I hope this helps,
Gemma 🙂
Thanks. This is very helpful. Much love from Pakistan ❤
Hey Gemma am I able to use lactose free spreadable margarine instead of the butter in this recipe? Thank you
Hi there,
yes, but if this is a tub of spreadable margarine you may need to reduce the amount, it is very soft. A baking block of margarine is easily subbed for butter in a recipe, this is hard margarine designed for baking.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
How much would I need to reduce it to? We don’t have blocks of margarine here in Australia 🙂 thank you.
Hi there,
there are 4ozs of butter in this recipe. I think I would take that back to 3 1/2 ozs/100g of the spread, especially for cookies. for sponge cakes, it will not be an issue. (Removing one tablespoon from the weight will do this too).
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
Hello Gemma,
Silly question maybe but is it possible to make any baking or these cookies with steel-cut (pinhead) oats?
Thanks!
Hi Tala,
I think you could use a mix of rolled and pinhead. The problem with the pinhead is that they are not immediately absorbent and the cookie will struggle to hold together. I use pinhead oatmeal in brown soda bread, where it works really well as an addition, a handful or so in the mix. Try that, that may be very good,
Gemma 🙂
I have used this recipe for years but without the cinnamon.. add a bag of chocolate chips, YUMMMY! Also you can make it gluten free using Brown rice flour. I mix a bit of coconut flour in with the brown rice flour for a great flavor. Organic Brown sugar and some coconut sugar too. They go fast in our house. So tasty!!
I’m thrilled to hear that, Marlene !
Thanks for much for trying it out.
Best,
Gemma.
Well, I did something wrong! The cookies got very dark around the edges and were quite flat, even though I baked them for only eight minutes (on a silicone sheet). After the first two batches, I put the dough in the refrigerator in between cooking them, thinking this might help prevent them from “flattening”. I also raised the oven rack up one slot from the middle of the oven thinking they wouldn’t get so dark. Instead of raisins, I used dried cranberries, since I always have those on hand. They had been in my freezer, so I soaked them in hot water for just a few minutes. I drained and patted them a bit to remove any excess moisture. I also doubled the recipe and used the old fashioned oats. So as you can see, I followed your recipe pretty closely! Any ideas? I must say, however, that the uncooked dough was DIVINE!!!
Hi Marilyn,
Ugh this is frustrating. it sounds like you did everything I would have done. So the burning around the edges in just 8 minutes indicates that something is wrong.
I have heard this before from people so I made it myself the other day and got the same results I always do.
Did you measure in cups? grams or ounces?
Can you just double double check the measurements were correct. It will help me get to the root of the problem.
Thanks,
Gemma.
Well, I sure thought I measured correctly! The edges were not burned but definitely were darker than normal. I’m thinking maybe it needed more flour, since soaking the fruit might have added too much moisture. Oh, well. I will not soak the raisins next time to see if that helps! Thank you so much for replying!
hi Marilyn,
flour in different places behaves in different ways too, and it may indeed be just that, it would take very little more to make a difference. Get this right for you. Make a note of the changes as you make them, then it will be your very own recipe!
Gemma 🙂
I will try again. Thank you so much. I really enjoy your site!
These cookies came out perfect, they’re the best I’ve ever had. Didn’t have to change anything and definitely a crowd pleaser.
Yea! Thank you Samantha for this lovely review and for taking the trouble to let us know, delighted,
Gemma 🙂
I made these with vegan butter, coconut sugar, energ egg replacer, multigrain flower and they were still really good fresh. Plus swapped raisins for chocolate chips.
I’m sure the actual recipe is even better.
Hi Paul,
Haha! this was your very own recipe, thank you for telling us about this, it will be a big help to other bold bakers.
Good that you are baking with us,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
It was a lovely oat cookies recipe !! However I was wondering if I can reduce the amount of sugar used in this recipe ?
For these you can use oat flour but i would not reduce the sugar too much.
These were delicious. The first pan was too thin and spread too far but tasted great. I added 1/4 cup extra flour to the second half of the batch and these came out perfect.
I’m delighted to hear that! These are one of my favorites!