Classic Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

By Melissa Clark

Updated February 2, 2025

  • Craig Lee for The New York Times
Media 1 of 2
Total Time
45 minutes
Rating
5(7,450)
Comments
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Full of nubby oats and plenty of sweet raisins, these lightly spiced cookies are pleasingly chewy in the center and crisp around the edges, with a hint of butterscotch from the dark brown sugar. They keep really well, so you can make them up to a week in advance and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They’re also great for mailing when a package of cookies is in order. Why You Should Trust This Recipe Melissa Clark, a food writer for more than 25 years, creates her fresh takes on classic recipes by trying at least half a dozen different approaches. A professional recipe tester then makes her recipe a minimum of three times (and sometimes more than 12) to ensure it’ll come out perfectly for all home cooks. For these cookies, Melissa achieved the ideal balance of chewy center and dark, crinkly edges by glossing the oats with brown sugar.

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Ingredients

Yield:3 dozen cookies

  • 1 cup/227 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, more for pans

  • 1 cup/200 grams dark brown sugar, packed

  • ⅓ cup/66 grams granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1 tablespoon/15 milliliters vanilla extract

  • 1 ½ cups/187 grams all-purpose flour

  • ¾ teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom or ground ginger

  • 3 cups/270 grams rolled oats (not instant)

  • 1 ½ cups/225 grams raisins

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

21 grams carbs; 24 milligrams cholesterol; 144 calories; 2 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 6 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 84 milligrams sodium; 2 grams protein; 11 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two large cookie sheets, or line them with parchment paper or reusable silicone liners.

  2. Step 2

    Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until creamy. Add brown and granulated sugars, then beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Then, beat in vanilla extract.

  3. Step 3

    In a separate bowl, use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.

  4. Step 4

    Set mixer on low speed, and beat flour mixture into the butter mixture.

  5. Step 5

    Stir in oats and raisins.

  6. Step 6

    Spoon out dough by large tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie.

  7. Step 7

    Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, about 9 to 13 minutes. Centers will still be quite soft, but they will firm up as the cookies cool. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
7,450 user ratings
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Comments

Hugh Cheney

For the few, the brave, the naughty; soak the raisins in dark rum while you prepare the dough. Add the raisins and the remnants of rum as the final step. Enjoy the cookies warm out of the oven with cold milk or as a cocktail.

Lynda H.

The best thing you can do for oatmeal, chocolate chip, etc. cookies is to refrigerate the dough for 8 hours or overnight. Chilling the dough firms the fat, so cookies spread less. It also concentrates the flavors and creates cookies with chewy-crisp (rather than soft) texture. (If you urgently need cookies--and don't we all?--bake what you need right away, then chill the rest of the dough. And see for yourself the improvement in the cookies made with chilled dough.)

Susan

If you soak the raisins in hot water for about 15 minutes before adding them the cookies will be more moist and chewy.

Sunny

The Best Cookies Recipe Ever.! I made it few times already

Laura Grannis

I made these and they were dry. Not sure what I did wrong? Has anyone else had this experience?

Seana D.

Baking in Spain here…followed the metric version and used 250g of butter instead of the 227g the recipe calls for - because 250g is the whole block of butter, so it just makes sense. For sugar, I used the panela variety. I accidentally forgot to buy more vanilla extract so I used almond extract instead. Instead of raisins, (which I hate) I swapped the equivalent weight of a 50/50 blend of chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. I would imagine you could successfully do the same with just about any other nuts, chocolates, dried fruits etc. But I will say that my combo was SO GOOD, that a significant portion of the cookie dough (!) was consumed last evening, long before I actually baked the cookies today. My bake time was a full 15 minutes on 180C using a standard cookie scoop portion. The cookies are too good…. I’m giving most of them away to friends, to save myself.

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