These oatmeal cookies are a classic favorite. They are extra moist and chewy, and taste amazing with added mix-ins or on their own. They’re a delicious treat to end your day and are so incredibly easy to make!
What makes oatmeal cookies so good? Not only are they moist, chewy, and delicious, but, for me, it’s also the nostalgia they carry. My grandmother would serve me all kinds of cookies whenever I’d go visit her, like her famous oatmeal cookies, soft and chewy chocolate chips cookies, and coconut cookies. However, her oatmeal cookies were always my favorite. She’d throw in chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, or sometimes different kinds of nuts. I always loved sitting at the kitchen table with her eating these scrumptious cookies.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is a slightly adapted version of my grandma’s recipe and is very near and dear to my heart. The cookies bake thick and beautiful, are extra chewy, and full of flavor. You will love them!
How to make chewy oatmeal cookies
- Cream butter and sugar together. Do this for about a minute, until the butter looks light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowls to ensure that the egg and butter mixture completely emulsify.
- Incorporate dry ingredients. Combine the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and add them to the mixer. Mix just until the dough comes together. Then add the oatmeal.
- Add mix-ins. Add whatever mix-ins you’d like, or simply leave the dough as is.
- Chill. This dough is soft and sticky, so I recommend chilling it for at least an hour.
- Bake. Form rounded balls of cookie dough and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake in a 350°F/185°C oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool.
Mix-ins for oatmeal cookies
This oatmeal cookie recipe is an amazing base, but you can add all kind of mix-ins if you’d like! Some of my favorites include:
- Raisins
- Other dried fruits, like cranberries, blueberries, or apricots.
- Chopped nuts, such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, or macadamia nuts.
If using nuts, take a few extra minutes to toast them You can do this by putting the nuts on a sheet pan in an oven set to 350°F/185°C and baking for 8-10 minutes, until they are lightly browned and fragrant. Be sure to cool them slightly before adding them to your dough.
Tips for making perfect chewy oatmeal cookies
- Don’t overmix your dough. Be careful when adding any mix-ins that you only mix the dough until it comes together. Overmixing will make tougher cookies, and we are going for chewy and soft.
- Don’t use quick or instant oats. Old-fashioned oats, like the classic Quaker Oats, have the best flavor and will produce the best texture. Quick oats make less chewy cookies, and instant oats lose their shape and make a dense cookie. You can use any leftover oats to make some homemade granola bars.
- If adding nuts, toast them before adding to the cookie dough. You can do this by placing them on a sheet pan and putting them in a 350°F/185°C oven for 6-8 minutes. Tossing halfway through. This will really bring out their flavor and make the cookies even better. Just be sure to let the nuts cool before adding to your cookie dough so the butter doesn’t melt.
- Use brown sugar. This gives the cookies a slight caramel flavor and makes them super moist and chewy. If you want the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to be more crispy and don’t mind them a bit sweeter, you can add a few more tablespoons of granulated sugar. However, don’t compensate by reducing the amount of brown sugar or else the cookies will lose their chewiness.
- Mix up the spices if you’d like! If you want to add some additional flavor, reduce the cinnamon to ¼ teaspoon and add another ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg or cardamom to shake these cookies up!
More delicious cookie recipes
- Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies: Thick, chewy, bakery-style peanut butter cookies loaded with Reese’s peanut butter chips.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: These cookies are the perfect fall treat!
- Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies: Delicate, buttery shortbread cookies dipped in decadent dark chocolate.
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: Nutty brown butter adds a deep caramel flavor to these chewy cookies.
- Brownie Cookies: Like a rich, fudgy brownie in cookie form.
Oatmeal Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- ⅞ cup (100g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100g) light brown sugar (dark is fine, too)
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups (120g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1-2 cups add-ins (see note for options)
Instructions
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In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
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In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. Beat in the egg until combined, then beat in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Don’t over mix. Add in oatmeal and all other add-ins, and keep mixing on low just until combined. The less you mix, the softer the cookies will be. Dough will be sticky and soft at this point, so I highly recommend chilling it for at least 30-60 minutes. Cover and place in the fridge.
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Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line pan with parchment paper and set aside.
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Drop rounded balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet, the size of 2 tablespoons each, and spacing 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies just begin to brown at the edges and center is still soft. Cookies will appear undone and moist in the center, but will continue to bake on the warm baking sheet. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. To thaw, leave on counter, still covered, or overnight in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
– To toast nuts: Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes in a preheated 350F/180C oven, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Allow to cool, then chop into pieces.
– For add-ins: A great combination of add-ins is chocolate chips, toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts), and dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries). Pecans and raisins are great together, as are pistachios and cranberries, dried cherries and chocolate chips. If you only add one kind of add-in, use 1-1.5 cups. If you use more than one kind, use up to 2 cups total.
