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I love oatmeal raisin cookies and am always on the lookout for the next great oatmeal raisin cookie recipe to add to my files. Sometimes I play with making healthier versions that are lower in fat. And sometimes I can only be satisfied by the kind made with full amounts of sugar and fat 🙂
Mom made oatmeal raisin cookies occasionally when I was growing up using the recipe on the back of the Quaker Oats box. They were good – chewy and crisp.
My love affair with oatmeal raisin cookies really heated up sometime back in the 1980s, when I first tasted a Mrs. Field’s oatmeal raisin cookie. They were rich, chewy, sweet, and delicious and since I was on a budget, I could only indulge myself once in a while. A $2.00 cookie is an indulgence, especially when you’re in college.
Just this week, when my periodic oatmeal raisin cookies craving was beginning to kick into overdrive (It happens a couple of times a year), I happened upon an article and recipe for what was being described as the “best oatmeal raisin cookies” from a restaurant called Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock, CA that was published in the Los Angeles Times. It called for an ingredient I had never used to make oatmeal raisin cookies – wheat germ – and was a very big batch.
Before I had a chance to cut the recipe in half and give it a try, I discovered that Martha Stewart’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookies (affiliate link) (my latest cookbook purchase) also calls for wheat germ and has ingredient ratios very close to Auntie Em’s. Martha uses a little more sugar and oats and a bit less flour.
With two recipes so similar, I felt confident that these had a real shot at being the best oatmeal raisin cookies I had ever baked.
The only other major difference was in the size of oatmeal raisin cookies—The Auntie Em’s version instructs you to bake really big cookies, using a full 1/4-cup measuring cup of dough and Martha’s version suggests using a 1-1/2-inch ice cream scoop (affiliate link) of dough.
Since, really embracing my life as a Weight Watchers member, I prefer to make reasonably sized cookies, but the choice is yours.
If you like really big oatmeal raisin cookies – use the 1/4-cup measuring cup and proceed with the directions as written. The baking time will be about the same.
But if you like reasonable sized cookies that don’t blow the WW Points budget, use a reasonable size scoop of dough and make 48 cookies.
So, here is my oatmeal raisin cookies recipe adaptation of these two very similar recipes. The oatmeal raisin cookies turned out deliciously crisp and chewy and are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I’ve ever baked.
If you’ve made these Oatmeal Cookies, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, not instant or quick cooking
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together oats, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until well combined; set aside.
- In a large bowl beat butter and sugars at medium speed with an electric mixer (affiliate link) until light and fluffy. This will take about 5 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined. Gradually add the oat/flour mixture to the butter/egg mixture, with the mixer on low, just until combined. Stir in raisins just until incorporated.
- Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop (affiliate link), drop the dough onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Flatten the cookies slightly, to about 1/2-inch thickness. An easy way to do this is with slightly damp hands.
- Bake until the edges are golden and the cookies are just set (They will still be a little soft in the center), about 12 to 15 minutes. You may want to turn the cookie sheet around halfway through the cooking time to insure that the cookies bake evenly.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
Source: Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share: A Baking Book (affiliate link)
Perfect cookies! I substituted margarine for the butter and ground flax for the wheat germ and they still turned out delicious 🙂
I could not believe how great these turned out. Next thing I knew j ate more then half the batch