My Favorite Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Are Way Better Than Any Bakery’s

Many years ago, I was responsible for doing the first bake of the day at a café. At 5:00 a.m., I’d preheat the ovens, then spend hours baking trays and trays of croissants, muffins, scones, and an assortment of cakes and cookies. As I quietly worked, I’d sip a cup of coffee and nibble on any pastries that weren’t good enough to sell, like lopsided muffins or oval cookies.

I often found myself gravitating to the oatmeal raisin cookies: Tender, chewy, and packed with hearty rolled oats and plenty of raisins, they felt like an appropriate choice for breakfast. Each bite was rich and buttery, with deep caramel notes from dark brown sugar and just enough salt to prevent the cookie from being overly sweet. That cookie gave me a deep appreciation for oatmeal raisin cookies—though chocolate chip cookies get all the love, oatmeal raisin cookies are just as (and sometimes even more!) delicious.

Case in point: My Birmingham, Alabama-based test kitchen colleague Nicole Hopper’s oatmeal raisin cookies that we're sharing the recipe for here—they're soft and crisp, with slightly chewy edges and warm notes of cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg. Thanks to a few clever techniques, Nicole’s cookies are as flavorful as can be, and with a few of her tips and tricks, you can make bakery-worthy oatmeal raisin cookies in your very own kitchen.

7 Tips for Making the Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Brown your butter. While many oatmeal raisin cookie recipes have you start by creaming the butter and sugar together, Nicole browns the butter by heating it until the water begins to evaporate and the milk solids caramelize, producing rich, nutty flavors that pair well with the toasted oats and dried fruit, resulting in a more complex tasting cookie.

Bloom your spices. Blooming refers to the process of heating spices in a fat like oil or butter, which helps release many fat-soluble flavor compounds. As former Serious Eats editor Sho has touched on, blooming is also a great way of evenly dispersing flavor throughout a dish or, in this case, cookie dough. After you brown the butter, Nicole has you stir in ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg. As the cinnamon and ground nutmeg sit in the hot fat, they become even more fragrant, giving the cookies a more pronounced spiced note. 

Use rolled oats. If you don’t have any rolled oats on hand, it may be tempting to swap in quick-cooking oats or steel-cut oats. Those oats, however, don’t have the right kind of texture: Because quick-cooking oats are steamed and rolled thinner than regular oats, they’re too delicate to incorporate into cookie dough without disintegrating or crumbling. Steel-cut oats, on the other hand, are cut with blades—not steamed and rolled. As a result, they take much longer than rolled or quick-cooking oats to cook, and won’t soften adequately when folded into cookie dough. 

Toast the oats. One of the quickest ways to give oats more flavor is to toast them. (It's a trick that also works with other grains and cereal, and one I use in my Rice Krispie treats and Cornflake marshmallow treats.) All you have to do is lay the oats in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, then toast them in the oven until they’re lightly browned and fragrant. The heat enhances the earthy flavors of the oats, and together with the brown butter, dark brown sugar, and vanilla, results in a cookie with deep butterscotch notes. 

Chill the dough. Refrigerating the dough for at least two hours allows the flour and toasted oats to hydrate, while also firming up the butter, which prevents the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. Most importantly, though, chilling the dough gives enzymes a chance to break down large carbohydrates. As former Serious Eats culinary director Kenji notes in his chocolate chip cookie recipe, this helps with the caramelization and browning process, resulting in more flavorful cookies.

For perfectly round cookies, swirl a ring cutter around each cookie. Though not essential, I like to make my cookies perfectly round by swirling a ring cutter around each one while they are still warm on the baking sheet. No ring cutter? No worries. Your cookies will still be delicious—just not perfect circles.

Cool the cookies properly. Because these cookies are very delicate out of the oven, it’s crucial to let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes. This gives them a chance to set, and prevents them from breaking when you transfer them to the wire rack to finish cooling. Once they've had a chance to cool, serve them up with glasses of milk or stash them in an airtight container where they will last for five days (if they aren't gobbled up sooner).

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC). In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until butter solids turn golden brown and smell nutty, 6 to 8 minutes. Immediately remove saucepan from heat, pour butter and toasted bits into a large heatproof bowl, and stir in cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, spread oats in an even layer on a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until oats are toasted and golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn oven off. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla into butter mixture until smooth, then whisk in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and, using a rubber spatula, fold together until mostly combined. Fold in raisins and toasted oats until evenly distributed and no streaks of flour remain. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake, adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC) and line two 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheets with parchment. Using a 2-ounce (#16) cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, spacing dough at least 2 inches apart. (Each portion should weigh about 2 1/2 ounces or 72g.) Using your hands or a flat-bottomed measuring cup, gently press down on cookie dough to flatten into 1-inch tall discs (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter).

Bake, one baking sheet at a time, until edges are golden and centers are still soft and pale, 12 to 14 minutes. Immediately after removing baking sheet from oven, bang pan on counter. For neater cookies, swirl a 4 1/2-inch ring cutter or small bowl around each cookie to help shape into a tidy circle. Let cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Special Equipment

Small saucepan, whisk, large heatproof bowl, two 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheets, rubber spatula, 2-ounce (#16) cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup, 4 1/2-inch ring cutter (optional)

Variations

Dried chopped apricots, cherries, cranberries, can be substituted for raisins. You can add up to 1 cup additional mix-ins of your choice, such as chopped chocolate or nuts, if desired.

Notes

If your dried fruit feels very dried out, you can rehydrate it by soaking in hot water (or the alcohol of your choice, such as rum or bourbon) for up to 10 minutes. Drain through a fine-mesh sieve and dab dry with a paper towel before using.

If you prefer smaller cookies, you can portion them with a 2 tablespoon scoop and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes instead of 12 to 14 minutes.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Once cooled, baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Portioned cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. To freeze cookie dough, place portioned dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm. Once frozen, transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze. Bake from frozen until edges are golden and centers are soft and pale, about 15 minutes.