Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you soak your raisins before baking cookies? ›

If you add dry raisins to your mix, they tend to draw in moisture from the dough, which can result in drier, harder baked goods. By soaking them, you ensure that the moisture in your batter stays right where it should, keeping your cakes, breads — cinnamon raisin bread, anyone? — or cookies moist and tender.

If there isn't enough fat or liquid, the cookies can turn out dry. It's also important to measure the ingredients accurately and not pack the flour too tightly, as this can result in a dry texture. You could try adjusting the baking time, temperature, or the ratio of wet to dry ingredients in your recipe.

Baking is truly a science, and the texture and rise of your cookies rely on a careful ratio of fat, sugar and flour. Common measuring mistakes like using too little flour or too much sugar can lead to a flat cookie, so always use measuring cups and spoons when adding dry and wet ingredients to your dough.

The Problem: The Butter Is Too Soft

Room temperature butter is just the right consistency to incorporate air when it's creamed with sugar. These trapped air pockets result in risen, fluffy cookies. If the butter is any warmer, it won't incorporate enough air and your cookies will have less rise.

Rehydrate them to plump them up before eating. Place the raisins in a bowl and pour boiling water to cover. They'll soften in minutes. This also works great when adding raisins (or other dried fruit) to recipes when baking.

Allow the raisins to soak in the water overnight or for about 8-12 hours. In the morning, strain the water into a new glass & drink it. Also, after drinking the raisin water you can also consume the soaked raisins as it also has high nutritional value.

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

The bread/apple trick

Here's a baker's trick you'll find in our new Monster Cookies recipe: Adding a piece of fresh white bread to the storage container will keep cookies from becoming hard or stale.

Cookies will flatten if there is a bit of much fat in the dough, usually butter or shortening. Try adding more flour or oats or something else that will add to the firmness of your dough.

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

Should oatmeal cookies be refrigerated before baking? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes).

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

Adding too much butter to your cookies can turn them from delightful treats to crumbly disasters! Here's why: Greasy mess: Extra butter means more fat, making the dough greasy and difficult to handle.

Both whole grain oats and raisins are a good source of fiber. The presence of whole grain oats will also help you stay fuller longer. That said, oatmeal raisin cookies are still cookies with higher butter and sugar content than other snacks, so they should only be considered a healthy snack in moderation.

Many drop cookie recipes, including oatmeal cookies, specify baking until the edges are golden or light brown; often, the recipe also specifies that centers should appear set (not jiggly and raw).

Soaking raisins has several benefits for your baking. First, it plumps up the raisins, making them softer and juicier, improving their mouthfeel. Soaking these fruity goodies also prevents them from absorbing moisture from the batter during baking.

Most raisins benefit from being plumped before using. Soak the raisins in either a bit of the recipe liquid or hot tap water for 10 to 15 minutes before using until they plump up. Pat dry before using if you are not using the soaking liquid in the recipe.

Raisin water is made by soaking raisins in water overnight, then straining out the fruit. Since this drink is made from raisins, it may help increase your intake of important nutrients, including iron and antioxidants.