These are the most perfect oatmeal raisin cookies ever! They’re packed with rolled oats, raisins, walnuts and plenty of flavor.
These cookies are such a treat. They are large and in charge and the best thing ever for dessert or a snack. I mean, there’s oatmeal in them so you can even have one for breakfast.
The recipe is based on our simple oatmeal cookies and with just a few small changes you get these beauties or our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
They’re packed with flavor from brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon and they have the best texture from the rolled oats and coconut.
If you love cookies then also check out our delicious peanut butter cookies, almond butter cookies and lemon cookies.
How To Make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Full instructions and measurements can always be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Cream butter and brown sugar together and then add maple syrup, vanilla extract and milk and mix in.
- Add rolled oats, dessicated coconut (finely shredded coconut) all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix in by hand (don’t use the electric mixer for this part).
- Add raisins and chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Roll into balls and place evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden on top.
- When they come out the oven, still warm, press down with a fork to flatten if needed.
- Leave them on the baking tray to cool completely.
Recipe Tips
Lightly Salted, Softened Butter. We used lightly salted butter in this recipe but unsalted will also work just fine. It’s ideal to let it soften first before creaming together with the sugar. However, if you forget to do this, then just cut the butter into cubes and beat the butter alone for a couple of minutes to soften it before you add the sugar and cream them together.
Maple Syrup. This recipe uses maple syrup but you can pretty much use any table syrup or you can use honey instead.
Dessicated coconut is also called finely shredded coconut or finely shredded coconut flakes. It is dried coconut that is very finely shredded.
Walnuts are optional. You can omit the walnuts or replace them with another nut like pecans instead. We just found the flavor blend of walnuts with these cookies to be really delicious!
Baking time: The baking time is 12-15 minutes. If you want a slightly crunchier cookie then 15 minutes is best. If you like them a little softer then 12 minutes is perfect. Just keep an eye on them though as you don’t want them to over-brown on top. You’re looking for a nicely golden brown color. The cookies in our photos were baked for 15 minutes so are a little darker brown on top and more crunchy.
Flatten the cookies AFTER baking. We tried flattening these cookies with a fork before baking but it didn’t work out well as the cookies broke apart. Since there are raisins and walnuts in there, it didn’t work well to press them down before baking.
However, the cookies don’t always spread all that well either, so what we found to be ideal was to flatten them with a fork directly after baking, when they’re still warm from the oven. This way, they hold together because it’s already baked together and they’re easy to flatten as they’re still warm from the oven.
Make them Gluten-Free: You can make these cookies gluten-free by using a gluten-free all purpose flour blend that is meant to replace regular all purpose flour in baking. Also make sure that your rolled oats are gluten-free.
Storing and Freezing
Keep the cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can also store them in the fridge.
The cookies also freeze well, either baked or unbaked for up to 3 months. If you want to freeze them unbaked then roll them into balls as usual and then freeze. Bake directly from frozen, allow an extra minute or two of baking time.
More Cookie Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Shortbread Cookies
- Chocolate Cookies
- White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Butter Lightly Salted, Softened
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tbsp Milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups Rolled Oats
- 1 cup Dessicated Coconut Finely Shredded Coconut
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3/4 cup Raisins Small, Seedless
- 1/2 cup Chopped Walnuts Optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add the butter and brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and cream them together until smooth.
- Add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and milk and mix in.
- Add the rolled oats, dessicated coconut, all purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix in by hand (don't use the electric mixer for this part).
- Add the raisins and chopped walnuts and mix in.
- Roll into balls and place them evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray. Aim for 20 balls.
- Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden on top.
- When they come out the oven, still warm, press them down with a fork to flatten if needed.
- Let the cookies cool and firm up on the baking tray before moving them.
Video
Notes
- Lightly salted butter. We used lightly salted butter in this recipe but unsalted butter will also work fine. It’s ideal to let the butter soften first before creaming it together with the sugar. However, if you forget to do this, then just cut the butter into cubes and beat the butter alone for a couple of minutes to soften it before you add the sugar and cream them together.
- Maple Syrup. This recipe uses maple syrup but you can pretty much use any table syrup or you can use honey instead.
- Baking time: The baking time is 12-15 minutes. If you want a slightly crunchier cookie then 15 minutes is best. If you like them softer then 12 minutes is perfect. Keep an eye on them after the 12 minute mark though as you don’t want them to over-brown on top and this can happen quite quickly.
- Flatten the cookies AFTER baking. These cookies don’t always spread that well, but if you flatten them with a fork before baking they can break apart. So bake them first and then when they come out the oven press down with a fork to flatten them if needed.
- Storing and Freezing. Keep the cookies stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can also store them in the fridge. They also freeze well either baked or unbaked for up to 3 months. If you want to freeze them unbaked then roll them into balls as usual and then freeze. Bake directly from frozen, allow an extra minute or two of baking time.
WOW Those look good! I want to try them and have a question: If I omit the coconut will it change the outcome and should I replace it with something else, say, chocolate chips? I love coconut, but I know some people who don’t (yeh, I know!).
Hi Jen, you can leave it out and then omit the 1 Tbsp milk as well. This will work great. Just want to mention though that the coconut doesn’t come through strongly at all, there isn’t any coconut flavor and the texture just contributes to overall chewiness, so it may be that no one will even know it’s there! All the best! 🙂
THESE COOKIES ARE THE BEST!!! So crunchie and delicious! Really easy to make and my home smelled like a bakery when I made them! Thanks for the recipe! 😁
Awesome Nadine! So happy to hear that!