Soft & chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, full of brown butter, whole rolled oats and juicy raisins, these cookies are warm and cozy and perfect for fall.
What kind of oats should you use for oatmeal cookies?
Whole rolled oats are best for oatmeal cookies, quick cooking oats will turn into mush and steel cut oats will stay hard and crunchy in the cookies.
How to freeze cookie dough?
To freeze cookie dough, add scooped balls of cookie dough into a freezer safe ziptop bag, suck or squeeze out any extra air without squeezing the cookie dough, and then put them in the freezer.
Can I leave the raisins out of oatmeal raisin cookies?
Yes you can omit the raisins from these oatmeal raisin cookies. However because the raisins carry extra moisture you’ll also want to decrease the amount of flour by about 10 grams.
How to make chewy oatmeal cookies?
To make chewy chocolate chip cookies, you need to be using brown sugar. However, only using brown sugar will give you an overly chewy, caramel type cookie. So this recipe combines brown and white sugar for the best texture and flavor.
Tips for making Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Browning butter is quite simple once you get the hand of it. Use a pot larger than you think because it will splatter. Once it starts to go quiet is when it actually starts to brown so stir occasionally to keep the brown bits from sticking. The foam that rises should become brown and that’s when the butter is ready.
- This is one of those recipes where your eggs don’t need to be at room temperature because they actually help to cool down the butter and sugar mixture.
- If you don’t want to include raisins, decrease the amount of flour by about 10 grams to account for the lack of extra moisture.
- Don’t over mix your batter. Once you don’t see any flour left, stop mixing otherwise you’ll end up with tough cookies.
- These cookies are great because they don’t need an overnight chill. They do however need about 30 minutes in the fridge just to hold their shape.
- If their shape gets a little wonky while baking, use an open deli container, upside down over the freshly baked cookies – one at a time wring the cookie around on the baking sheet under the container in a clockwise direction until it is a neat circle.
- If you’re going to bake them all at once, storing them in an airtight bag or container at room temperature is best.
Additional Recipes to try:
Ingredients
- Raisins: I like a classic raisin in this cookie but you could also do dried cranberries or cherries. If you want to leave them out all together, refer to the tips section about adjusting the flour.
- Butter: I recommend salted butter for these cookies but you can also use unsalted. The butter doesn’t need to be at room temperature because we will be browning it.
- Cinnamon: The cinnamon gives that classic warm oatmeal cookie flavor.
- Sugar: Both white and dark brown (light brown works too!) sugar are used in these cookies for optimal flavor and texture.
- Salt: Fine Sea Salt balances out the sweetness of the cookies, also add flaked salt after glazing in addition to the salt in the cookie dough.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract enhances the flavors in the cookies.
- Eggs: I use one large egg from the store.
- Flour: This recipe uses all purpose flour since we’re also adding oats but you could do a combination of whole wheat and regular all purpose flour if you prefer!
- Baking Soda: Baking soda is important for the rise and texture of the cookies, don’t forget to check the expiration date!
- Oats: These cookies use whole rolled oats and I don’t recommend making swaps.
How to make Brown Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Soak the Raisins
- In a small heat safe bowl, add in the raisins. Pour boiling water over them until they are completely submerged.
- Set aside on the counter to plump while prepping the rest of the cookie dough.
Brown the butter
- In a medium pot add in the butter and turn the heat onto medium low. We are browning the butter.
- First it will melt, then be loud and popping. Then it’ll quiet down and foam – at this point you want to stir it and scrape the bottom of the pan – then it will foam again and this time brown bits should rise to the top. At this point your butter is brown but not before!
- Once browned, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Cookie Dough
- In a medium mixing bowl add in the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and egg. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour the slightly cooled brown butter into the bowl in three additions whisking between each one.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, and oats.
- Use a flat rubber spatula to mix them in until just combined. Drain the excess liquid off of the raisins and pour them into the cookie dough. Fold once more.
- Place the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes until firm and scoopable.
- I like big cookies so I used a quarter cup ice cream scoop. You can do any size you want, you’ll simply need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Place the cookie scoops on a parchment lined baking tray (13″ x 18″) – no more than 6 on the tray. At this point you could also scoop all of the dough onto a small baking sheet, cover them with plastic and leave in the fridge overnight but it’s not necessary!
Bake the cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, then rotate the pan and bake for another 4-6 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the centers look a little soft and underbaked. Don’t worry they are done and will finish baking as they cool.
- Take the tray out of the oven and leave the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes. Bake the next tray while this one cools.
- If their shape gets a little wonky while baking, use an open deli container, upside down over the freshly baked cookies – one at a time wring the cookie around on the baking sheet under the container in a clockwise direction until it is a neat circle.
- Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature.
Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Soft & chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, full of brown butter, whole rolled oats and juicy raisins, these cookies are warm and cozy and perfect for fall.
Servings: 7 cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 65 grams raisins
Cookie Dough
- 85 grams salted butter
- 75 grams dark brown sugar
- 20 grams granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon ground
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg large
- 105 grams all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 90 grams whole rolled oats
Instructions
Soak the Raisins
- In a small heat safe bowl, add in the raisins. Pour boiling water over them until they are completely submerged.
- Set aside on the counter to plump while prepping the rest of the cookie dough.
Brown the Butter
- In a medium pot add in the butter and turn the heat onto medium low. We are browning the butter.
- First it will melt, then be loud and popping. Then it’ll quiet down and foam – at this point you want to stir it and scrape the bottom of the pan – then it will foam again and this time brown bits should rise to the top. At this point your butter is brown but not before!
- Once browned, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Cookie Dough
- In a medium mixing bowl add in the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and egg. Whisk until smooth.
- Pour the slightly cooled brown butter into the bowl in three additions whisking between each one.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, and oats.
- Use a flat rubber spatula to mix them in until just combined. Drain the excess liquid off of the raisins and pour them into the cookie dough. Fold once more.
- Place the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes until firm and scoopable.
- I like big cookies so I used a quarter cup ice cream scoop. You can do any size you want, you'll simply need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Place the cookie scoops on a parchment lined baking tray (13" x 18") – no more than 6 on the tray. At this point you could also scoop all of the dough onto a small baking sheet, cover them with plastic and leave in the fridge overnight but it's not necessary!
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, then rotate the pan and bake for another 4-6 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the centers look a little soft and underbaked. Don't worry they are done and will finish baking as they cool.
- Take the tray out of the oven and leave the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes. Bake the next tray while this one cools.
- If their shape gets a little wonky while baking, use an open deli container, upside down over the freshly baked cookies – one at a time wring the cookie around on the baking sheet under the container in a clockwise direction until it is a neat circle.
- Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Tips for making Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
- Browning butter is quite simple once you get the hand of it. Use a pot larger than you think because it will splatter. Once it starts to go quiet is when it actually starts to brown so stir occasionally to keep the brown bits from sticking. The foam that rises should become brown and that’s when the butter is ready.
- This is one of those recipes where your eggs don’t need to be at room temperature because they actually help to cool down the butter and sugar mixture.
- If you don’t want to include raisins, decrease the amount of flour by about 10 grams to account for the lack of extra moisture.
- Don’t over mix your batter. Once you don’t see any flour left, stop mixing otherwise you’ll end up with tough cookies.
- These cookies are great because they don’t need an overnight chill. They do however need about 30 minutes in the fridge just to hold their shape.
- If their shape gets a little wonky while baking, use an open deli container, upside down over the freshly baked cookies – one at a time wring the cookie around on the baking sheet under the container in a clockwise direction until it is a neat circle.
- If you’re going to bake them all at once, storing them in an airtight bag or container at room temperature is best.
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