Soft and chewy high altitude oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic favorite cookie that’s been beloved for generations. I’ve raised the bar on these cookies with nutty brown butter that adds so much depth of flavor, making them even better. A mixture of white sugar and brown sugar, cinnamon, crunchy oats and chewy raisins are to be expected, and the baked cookies are the perfect balance of soft and chewy, salty and sweet, rich and nutty.
You might also love these chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars, oatmeal cream pies, and oatmeal raisin muffins.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Thick, Soft and Chewy. Oatmeal is such a treat, whether it’s in the form of these oatmeal raisin cookies, hearty oatmeal muffins, or a bowl of hot oatmeal topped with fruit, brown sugar and cream. These cookies have quickly become a favorite with my little boys, and they just love the soft, chewy texture, and the sweet raisins scattered throughout.
Quick and Easy to Make. By using melted butter, the cookie dough comes together easily with just a bowl and spoon, no mixer needed. From start to finish, this recipe takes just a little over an hour!
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter. I brown the butter for these oatmeal raisin cookies, and the browned butter adds the most wonderful, nutty depth of flavor that’s simply delicious.
- Granulated Sugar + Dark Brown Sugar. Adds sweetness and moisture to the cookies.
- Egg. Adds structure, and emulsifies the dough so it doesn’t crumble.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour. Adds structure and stability.
- Old-Fashioned Oats. Old-fashioned oats have a hearty texture that’s wonderful in these cookies.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances the flavors.
- Baking Soda. Leavens the cookies for a subtle rise.
- Cinnamon. Flavor.
- Raisins. Raisins and oatmeal are so good together, with the sweet chewiness of the raisins and the hearty oat texture. If you like, you can also add chopped pecans and chocolate chips to these cookies, which are both so good with the oats.
Instructions
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 4-5 minutes, swirling occasionally to see the bottom of the pan, until the butter is very fragrant, and nutty, golden brown solids have formed on the bottom of the pan.
- Pour the brown butter, scraping up all of the browned bits, too, into a medium-sized mixing bowl, and let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- After cooling the brown butter, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and lightened in color.
- Separately, combine the flour, oats, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and stir together into a dough. Stir in the raisins.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions (slightly less than what would fill a cupcake scoop), roll into balls, and flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Place the pan in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 8 – 8 1/2 minutes. They should appear set around the edges, but underdone in the middle. Do not over bake, or they will end up dry; they will set up to the perfect soft and chewy consistency as they cool.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Leftover cookies should be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Since oats are very absorbent, oatmeal cookies tend to dry out faster than other cookies, but a slice of plain sandwich bread in a cookie jar does wonders to keep them soft. The cookies can also be wrapped well and frozen for 3-6 months.
Old-fashioned oats, not quick oats or steel-cut oats.
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Soft and Chewy High Altitude Brown Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup raisins
Instructions
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 4-5 minutes, swirling occasionally to see the bottom of the pan, until the butter is very fragrant, and nutty, golden brown solids have formed on the bottom of the pan. Pour the brown butter, scraping up all of the browned bits, too, into a medium-sized mixing bowl, and let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- After cooling the brown butter, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and lightened in color.
- Separately, combine the flour, oats, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and stir together into a dough. Stir in the raisins.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions (slightly less than what would fill a cupcake scoop), roll into balls, and flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the dough balls 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Place the pan in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the chilled cookies on the center oven rack for about 8 – 8 1/2 minutes. They should appear set around the edges, but underdone in the middle. Do not over bake, or they will end up dry; they will set up to the perfect soft and chewy consistency as they cool.
- Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Leftover cookies should be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Since oats are very absorbent, oatmeal cookies tend to dry out faster than other cookies, but a slice of plain sandwich bread in a cookie jar does wonders to keep them soft.
- The cookies can also be wrapped well and frozen for 3-6 months.
- If your raisins are old and dry, you can re-hydrate them with water. Simply cover the raisins with water in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and let the raisins sit in the warm water while the browned butter is cooling. Drain the raisins before adding them to the dough. The hydrated raisins will add more moisture to the cookies, and I find that they need to bake an additional 3-5 minutes as a result. (The drained raisin water can be used as the cooking liquid for oatmeal later – it adds a wonderful flavor.)
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/
Great cookies! This is the best recipe I've made! Thanks!
I'm glad you liked them! 🙂
These are amazing!!! The browned butter gives a fantastic flavor. I live at 5700 ft in Montana, and they turned out perfectly! I did bake them for 2 extra minutes because my oven is wonky. 😆 We added chocolate chips and walnuts as well with the raisins – so good! My husband couldn’t stop eating them.
I totally screwed up the first batch and they were still fantastic. Second batch today were done correctly (I don’t like raisins so I used M&Ms). Best oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had!
Thank you so much! I use this same recipe with chocolate chips, and they’re fantastic. 🙂
Another good one. Family loved these
These were FABULOUS! My husband LOVES them! So glad I found your website for high altitude baking. Brighton CO
I’m so glad you both loved them!
YUM!! These were delicious- and also very very crumbly. I did add some chopped pecans, but wonder if perhaps I should have added an extra egg?
So glad you loved them! They should be very soft and chewy, so if they were crumbly, you might have added too much flour. Be sure you’re measuring your flour using the “spoon and sweep” method, so you don’t compact too much flour into the measuring cup.
These were so good the first time I made them! I substituted butterscotch chips for the raisins and everyone raved about them. Question though, is it ok to chill them longer than the 20 minutes?
I’m so glad you love them! I agree, they’re fantastic with butterscotch chips, too. If you chill them for longer, then it’s possible they won’t spread enough when they bake, but if you try it, please let me know how it goes!
I like to add pecans and a few spices to my oatmeal scotchies, if you want to check out this recipe: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/high-altitude-oatmeal-butterscotch-cookies-oatmeal-scotchies/
I live at 8200 feet and these came out great!! Loved the recipe! ❤️
Best oatmeal raisin cookie recipe ever! Thank you
These are very tasty and a snap to put together! I also had to cook them a couple of minutes longer though. I need to get an oven thermometer.
This recipe is a keeper!!!
I’m in AZ at 5000 feet. Have made the recipe several times, but needed more cookies this time. Doubled the recipe except for salt (left at 1 t Kosher) and raisins (used 1 c.). They turned out as delicious as always, and there are twice as many! Love this recipe
Sending love from northern CO! Best cookies I have ever made, maybe ever had tbh. I plumped up my raisins with warm water before adding and the cookies are insane 🔥
So glad you love them! Yes, that’s a great trick to keep the raisins (and cookies) soft for longer.
Thank you!! Another winning cookie recipe. The browned butter in both these cookies and the browned butter chocolate chip cookies makes them over the top good. My family ate all of them so quickly that they only left one for me.
I soaked the raisins in the egg and vanilla for an hour, then used the liquid in the recipe. Fabulous !! at 9000 feet ; )
Ever since I moved to Colorado 18 years ago I haven’t been able to successfully make cookies. I followed this recipe exactly and the cookies came out perfectly! They were delicious. I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you so much!
I’m so sorry you haven’t been able to make homemade cookies in that long, but I’m thrilled you love the recipe!
Hi Heather! First of all, I want to thank you for this recipe. They are absolutely addicting. The entire apartment building where I live in Northern Arizona, everyone there cannot get enough.
My question is, can these be made at sea-level? What adjustments need to be made? My mother-in law wants the recipe.
Thanks again,
Diana in Holbrook AZ
I’m so glad everyone loves them! Please see my FAQs for advice on adjusting recipes for various altitudes: https://curlygirlkitchen.com/baking-faqs/
These are the BEST oatmeal cookies ever!
So glad you loved them!
I am a relatively new baker and was struggling to make chewy cookies following non-high altitude recipes or trying to make adjustments on my own . (I live in Albuquerque at 5,000 feet). This recipe is amazing! I’ve made them 3 times now, with dried (soaked) cranberries and white chocolate chips, and my husband eats them all in 2-3 days. I also brought them to work and everyone said they’re the best thing I’ve baked so far. Thank you so much!
I’m so happy you loved these!
I have made these three times now with cranberries and white chocolate chips. They are the most requested in my house and with my coworkers 😊. So soft and chewy. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
I live at 7,200 ft and these cookies baked up moist, chewy and did not flatten out. Delicious! I’m going to have to double the recipe next time… my husband can’t leave them alone.