Best in the World Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy and melt in your mouth delicious. I dare you to find a better oatmeal raisin cookie recipe!
Really? Best in the World Oatmeal Cookies? That’s what they are called. The story behind these cookies: About 1987, we were living in an apartment in Beaverton, Oregon. Grant was in school, and I was working. Corrine was about 3. I baked up a batch of Best in the World Oatmeal Cookies, and sent Grant over to the neighbors apartment to share.
When he came home he said “They said thanks for the cookies. I told them you said they were the best oatmeal cookies in the world.”Hello. Husbands! I didn’t say they were the best oatmeal cookies in the world, THAT IS TH ENAME OF THE RECIPE! Sheesh. So, over 30 years later, we still laugh about the name of these cookies. I guess you had to be there. Seriously one of my favorite oatmeal cookie recipes ever.
The texture of the Best Oatmeal Cookie in the World is just right- soft and chewy on the inside with a slight crunch on the outside. Make sure not to over-bake these! You’ll want them nice and soft. To get a perfectly baked cookie, I look for the cookie to just form a top crust and no longer look wet and shiny. Shortly after the top crust forms on a cookie, it will begin to turn a light golden color. At this point the cookie is done! If you remove from the oven at this moment, I promise they are perfectly baked after cooling!
The method for cooking the raisins in a small amount of water before adding to the dough makes the raisins extra moist and gives this cookie a texture like no other.
For some unknown reason, oatmeal raisin is a combination people over 50 love. If you know the reason why young people have such hate for raisins, please leave a comment below! I love raisins. I love them in oatmeal, on salads, and absolutely in cookies! If you are baking up a batch of cookies for your parents, or grandparents, try this recipe. My guess is, they’ll love this more than anything you can buy in a store for their next birthday or anniversary!
Best in the World Oatmeal Cookies
Original recipe found in the Pinch of Salt Lake Cookbook printed back in the 1980’s, this recipe truly is the best oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I’ve made.
Ingredients
- 2 cups raisins regular or golden raisins
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup butter (I use unsalted) softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar, light or dark firmly packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees
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Bring raisins and water to a boil in a small saucepan, Cover and turn off heat. Or place raisins in small bowl and add 1/4 cup water. Microwave for about 2 minutes covered with plastic wrap. Let sit for about 5 minutes.
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In a large bowl cream butter and sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
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Add eggs and beat until incorporated with butter and sugar mixture.
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Add vanilla. Add all remaining dry ingredients and mix just until all wet and dry ingredients are incorporated. This takes about 30 seconds at most on low speed or by hand.
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Drain raisins and fold into dough.
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With a 2 inch scoop, place dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. flatten slightly with palm of hand. Dough should no longer be wet looking, if dough is shiny or wet looking, fold in 2 more tablespoons of flour before scooping onto cookie sheet.
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Bake for about 7-8 minutes or until the dough is no longer wet looking and top crust has barely formed. Cookies will be slightly under baked.
Recipe Notes
- Don’t over mix after adding the dry ingredients.
- You may use either regular or golden raisins. I like golden best!
- Sometimes, I lightly sprinkle sea salt on top of the cookies right when removed from oven or just before baking.
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That's so funny. Don't you just love those moments that you can laugh about for years to come
Beaverton huh? I felt like I was instantly taken back to picking up my friend's first car in highschool. We drove to Beaverton to get it and it was so exciting for us.
Add some chocolate chips and these probably are the best in the world.
Loved these cookies! Very, very good. I will make these again!
BEST cookies I’ve made! Everyone loved them, even my husband who doesn’t like oatmeal cookies. They are so yummy. The golden raisins are so much better than the other ones. Every time I want to bake a new cookie I only use Abountiful Kitchen recipes!
These are definitely some of my all-time favorite cookies too, Briana. I love how you used golden raisins instead. Thanks so much for sharing and for reading ABK!
xo
Si
After trying many oatmeal cookie recipes, this is the one I will stick to. Golden raisins make this recipe extra tasty. We’ve also used chocolate chips instead. Both are great! We’ve shared them with neighbors who say they are the best oatmeal cookie they’ve had!
Can you freeze the raw dough? 🙂 I’d like to make 3x batch and bake them off 1x at a time
Hi Tom,
You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months, I would recommend shaping the dough into balls before you freeze them, and make sure they’re in an air tight container or freezer bag. I usually just bake all of the cookies first and then freeze them. Thank you for asking!
Si
Hi there! What should I add if I want to leave out the raisins? More flour? Or more oats? Or both? Thanks so much in advance!! Love your blog 🙂
Hi Emily, I would either substitute the raisins with chocolate chips, or you can try adding 1/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup more of oatmeal. Hope this helps and let me know how they turn out! Thank you for reading ABK,
xo
Si
Trying these today! Question—since there is AP flour and cornstarch in the dough, could you just use cake flour (which is flour with cornstarch)? Or, are the proportions different? Thanks!
Hi Jeff,
I have not tried these with cake flour. Since cake flour also has been sifted several times, I would just use the all purpose and add cornstarch. Hope you love this treat!
Si
Delicious oatmeal cookies. Everything I want and look for in an oatmeal cookie. This will be my go-to recipe when I have an oatmeal cookie craving.
I did make a couple changes which don’t really affect the recipe: (1) I added 2 tsps. cinnamon because I always add cinnamon to oatmeal cookies; (2) I didn’t bother soaking the raisins; (3) I used 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup walnuts; (4) I ran out of oats, so I added 1/2 cup of 7-grain cereal in place of oats.
I think the 7-grain cereal works really well in these cookies. I think I might replace a whole cup of oats with the cereal next time.
Thank you for the excellent and PERFECT oatmeal cookie recipe! Now, I’m going to check out all of your other recipes!
These cookies are AMAZING. My husband loves raisins and this is hands down his favorite recipe out of a year of searching. I make a big batch on Sundays and freeze for dessert throughout the week. Perfect every time. I ran out of butter and used half cream cheese and they were delicious. Thank you so much!
We are raisin lovers too! half cream cheese?! I never would have thought. Thanks for letting us know,
XO
Si
My husband makes these all the time (sans raisins), soooo delicious!
I’m on the hunt for a yummy oatmeal raisin cookie, and these ones are delicious! They’re the perfect blend of crunchy outside and tender in the middle, although I had to tinker with the bake time a little to make sure the middles were done. I’ll flatten them better next time for a more even bake.