Learn how to make the best crispy oatmeal raisin cookies with this easy recipe. These oatmeal cookies are made with butter and rolled oats (also called large flake oats), creating a crispy edge that is a lovely contrast to the soft and chewy raisins within.
Some people love soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies and some prefer thick oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. And some prefer crispy oatmeal raisin cookies like these. Here's how to get that perfect crispy edge and texture.
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How to Make Cookies with a Crispy Texture
If you want a crispy oatmeal cookie, as opposed to a chewy one, there are a few tricks to keep in mind next time you bake:
- Use less brown sugar because it leads to a chewier or even a softer cookie. Use less brown sugar if you want more crunch.
- Use more granulated sugar to give a crispier texture. More sugar in general also helps the cookies spread thin
- Use baking soda to increase the pH of the dough, which reduces gluten formation and helps cookies spread more, which will also lead to more crisp texture
- Use less flour to create a thinner cookie that spreads more, thereby increasing the crispiness
- Add a little liquid—this loosens the dough and encourages spread, which in turn leads to cookies that are more crispy.
Remember that for any of these tricks to work, it's important that you properly measure the baking ingredients when making the dough. A little less flour or a little more butter can really change the texture and lead to completely different results!
Ingredients
Oatmeal cookies are a great recipe because you likely have all the ingredients you need in your fridge and pantry at any time, so you can make these without a special trip to the store!
- butter—use unsalted butter or cut back on the salt in the recipe if using salted butter
- sugar—use a combination of granulated sugar and dark brown sugar to achieve the perfect crispy texture without losing on the flavour of brown sugar
- eggs—use large eggs when baking
- leavening agent—you will need baking soda for this recipe, not baking powder. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference.
- flour—I used bleached all-purpose flour, but unbleached should work too.
- oats—use rolled oats, also called large flake oats or old-fashioned oats. Don't use quick-cooking or minute oats which are too fine, and don't use steel-cut oats, which are much too coarse and crunchy
- spices—I like to add ground cinnamon to my oatmeal cookies
- raisins—I prefer to bake with Sultana raisins or golden raisins, which have a lovely flavour and a soft texture
See the recipe card for exact ingredients and quantities.
Tip: use large flake or rolled oats, sometimes called old-fashioned oats. Finer quick-cooking or minute oats will change the texture of these and may lead to dryer cookies, while steel-cut oats are much too hard and coarse for cookies.
Substitutions and Variations
- nuts—if you want to add nuts, like chopped toasted walnuts, replace half the raisins with nuts. You could also use pecans or almonds, or even peanuts!
- chocolate chip—replace the raisins with the same volume of chocolate chips to make crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
- cranberry or cherry—replace the raisins with the same weight of dried cranberries or dried cherries.
Remember that 1 cup of chocolate chips doesn't weigh the same as 1 cup of walnuts, so for some substitutions, you will make cup-for-cup substitutions, while for others, you may make a gram-for-gram swap. Get this ingredient conversion chart to guide you!
How To Make Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins
I like to mix cookie dough using an electric mixer, either a hand mixer or a small stand mixer.
Step 1: Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl with an electric hand mixer) (image 1). Mix these ingredients until well mixed before adding the egg and vanilla (image 2). Make sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula to get all the ingredients that may be trapped on the bottom and sides of the bowl (image 3)
Step 2: Whisk together the dry ingredients in a small bowl using a Danish dough whisk (image 4) then add them to the mixer and stir them in (image 5). Add the raisins (image 6) and continue stirring just until they're evenly mixed in (image 7).
Step 6: Use a disher to portion out the oatmeal cookie dough into even scoops of about 35 grams onto parchment paper-lined sheet pans (image 8). Roll the scoops between the palms of your hand to smooth them out (image 9).
Step 4: If you are baking on a half-sheet pan, you will be able to fit 8 cookies per sheet, staggered to allow airflow (image 10). Bake until the edges are golden brown and the texture is crisp (image 11).
Top Tip
Oatmeal cookies don't spread as much as regular chocolate chip cookies, especially if they have a lot of oats, walnuts, and raisins. Don't add too many of these ingredients as they will stop the cookie from spreading.
Oatmeal Cookie FAQs
Crispy oatmeal cookies get their texture by increasing the proportion of granulated sugar (versus brown sugar), butter compared to flour, and more baking soda per cup of flour. Decreasing the amount of flour in an oatmeal cookie recipe will lead to a thinner, more crispy texture, and also reducing the quantity of inclusions (add-ins), like nuts, oats, and raisins, which create a thicker cookie. Using butter instead of shortening also will create a thinner cookie with crispy edges.
I always store cookies in an airtight container in a cool dry place or a resealable plastic bag (with the air removed). Don't combine them in the same container with other cookies because that may soften the crispy cookies. To re-crisp oatmeal cookies that have gone soft, bake them at 300 °F (150 °C) for 5 minutes. This will help dry them out a little and they will become crispy again as they cool down.
You can also freeze the freshly baked cookies (after cooling completely) in a freezer bag or better yet, freeze the portioned-out cookie dough and bake a few when you want fresh cookies. They may take a few minutes longer to bake if frozen.
Other Oatmeal Cookies to Try
For a twist on the classic oatmeal raisin cookies, try these:
- blueberry oatmeal cookies made with chunks of white chocolate!
- thick and chewy oatmeal cookies made with milk chocolate and peanuts
- date squares, which are bars with a thick layer of date sandwiched between layers of a crumbly oat cookie
If you tried this recipe for crispy oatmeal raisin cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Crispy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 115 grams unsalted butter softened
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 100 grams dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg(s)
- 10 mL pure vanilla extract
- 125 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 75 grams rolled oats (or large flake oats) also called old fashioned oats
- 5 mL ground cinnamon
- 2.5 mL baking soda
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 160 grams sultana raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line a couple of half-sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugars for about a minute or until properly blended and smooth, then add the egg, and the vanilla, beating well and scraping down the bowl as needed.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the mixer, on low, until the cookie dough is just starting to come together, then add in the raisins.
- Scoop the cookie dough with a ¾ ounce scoop onto the prepared baking sheets, rolling them into smooth balls with your palms. Each scoop should weigh around 35 grams. I fit 8 cookies per half-sheet pan.
- Bake the cookies from 12 to 13 minutes, depending on how welldone you like them. Personally, I leave them until the edges turn golden brown for a crispier cookie.
Notes
- Oatmeal cookies don't spread as much as regular chocolate chip cookies, especially if they have a lot of oats, walnuts, and raisins. Don't add too many of these ingredients as they will stop the cookie from spreading.
- Use rolled oats, also called large flake oats or old-fashioned oats. Don't use quick-cooking or minute oats which are too fine, and don't use steel-cut oats, which are much too coarse and crunchy.
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
- Variations:
- nuts—if you want to add nuts, like chopped toasted walnuts, replace half the raisins with nuts. You could also use pecans or almonds, or even peanuts!
- chocolate chip—replace the raisins with the same volume of chocolate chips to make crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
- cranberry or cherry—replace the raisins with the same weight of dried cranberries or dried cherries.
- Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) in order to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
Suha Jundi says
Janice, thanks for your awesome and informative recipes... Could you help by putting each new recipe in the subject of the email...which will help in referring to the right recipe in my inbox. Currently I receive your email from "Kitchen Heals Souls" and the subject of the email is: "Kitchen Heals Souls" too. Hope you can help..
Janice Lawandi says
Thank you for your comment, Suha Jundi! I know exactly what you mean! I will work on it and try to get that fixed ASAP 🙂
Stephanie says
I'm so so sorry for the loss of your kitty. We had to say goodbye to our 18 year old kitty at the vet last year and it was really hard. So many animals go un-loved, your kitty was lucky to be be loved by you and in return you have all the wonderful memories.
Janice Lawandi says
Thanks, Stephanie! I try to focus on that too: that I gave a rescued cat a really loving home 🙂
Deb says
I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your friend, Zen. I recently lost my cat too and also found a fleeting moment of joy while baking. May the pain of your loss be gently replaced with sweet memories.
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers says
So sorry for your loss of Zen. Love your comfort cookies.
Anonymous says
thanks for your post about you and zen and your cookies, which sound like the only kind of oatmeal raisin cookie i'd want to eat. i labeled the cookies "zen's crispy oatmeal raisin cookies". heal well.
jude