I like this recipe so much that I wasn’t sure I wanted to share it, but today’s your lucky day! These cookies are soft & chewy, and absolutely delicious. They’re love in an oven! I used to be indifferent to oatmeal cookies. Then I married Trip – oatmeal raisin are his favorites. So I started experimenting until I was happy with the recipe. Along the way, oatmeal raisin became my favorite, too! Of course, there were never any complaints from my family about the multiple batches that had to be made to fine tune the recipe 😉

The perfect oatmeal raisin cookie is nicely browned, but still soft & chewy. It’s no good getting the flavor right if the cookie is dry or hard to chew, and it’s no good getting the texture right if the cookie is bland. A simple bread trick helps bridge the gap. 

Another good trick comes in handy if you don’t want to wait for your butter to soften. Fill a microwave-safe cup or glass with water, & microwave on high until hot. Dump out the water, and invert the cup over your butter. The residual heat in the cup will soften the butter in just a couple of minutes – without the mess that invariably results from trying to soften butter in the microwave. You don’t want the butter too soft, or your cookies will end up flat. Still tasty, but flat.

You’ll find a printer-friendly version of the recipe at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients:

¾ cup butter (1½ sticks), slightly softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 egg

¼ cup water

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups quick oats

125 grams all-purpose flour (about a cup, but weighing is better)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1½ tsp baking powder

¾ cup raisins

Preparation:

1.) Preheat oven to 325°F

2.) Beat butter & sugars until creamy. Add egg, water, & vanilla; mix well.

3.) Combine oats, flour, salt, baking soda, & baking powder in a large bowl. Add to wet ingredients & mix well. Stir in raisins.

4.) Drop by well-rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment-lined or greased cookie sheet.

5.) Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until cookies are golden brown.

6.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once cookies have mostly cooled, place in an airtight container or large zip-top bag with a slice of bread. I like to put a small piece of wax paper between the bread and the bottom layer of cookies, to prevent them from getting too soft. Close it up tightly. Your cookies will soon be even softer than when they came out of the oven, and will stay that way for a few days. I think. I dare you to keep them around long enough to find out how many days! Mine are always gone long before the bread gives up on them. I’ve no idea why bread donates its moisture to cookies instead of the other way around, but I’m glad it does! And I’m sorry, I’ve no idea how many cookies this makes, as I’ve yet to finish a batch without forgetting how many cookies we’ve “tested” as they came out of the oven!