If you are looking for a recipe to make soft oatmeal cookies that are delicately crisp around the edges but nice and soft on the inside, this is it. These thick oatmeal cookies with a toffee-like flavor are easy to make using a mixing bowl and spoon. No electric mixer is needed!
When I started experimenting with this recipe, I was looking to create a cookie that was really packed with oatmeal flavor, was soft in the middle and slightly crispy around the edges, and remained thick after baking.
I experimented by making eight different batches of oatmeal cookies, starting with the recipe I used over on my Hungry Happenings blog to make Spider Infested Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for Halloween (delicious, but definitely crispy and chewy, not soft) before I found the perfect recipe to make soft oatmeal cookies.
In the end, I found that tweaking the Classic Chewy Oatmeal Cookies recipe from America's Test Kitchen gave me what I was looking for.
Their recipe calls for using 1 part melted butter (saturated fat) and 3 parts vegetable oil (unsaturated fat) in order to give the cookies a soft and chewy texture.
I have not found too many oatmeal cookie recipes that use oil, so I was skeptical at first but after baking a batch of the cookies, I realized this unusual ingredient does work to keep the cookies from being crispy or dry throughout.
The cookies had a very strong oat flavor but didn't have that buttery toffee-like flavor that I really wanted in my cookies, so I altered the ratio of butter to vegetable oil until I got the flavor profile that I desired.
How to get a thick soft cookie?
The oatmeal cookie recipe from ATK produced flat cookies that were crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle but I wanted these cookies to be thick instead of flat.
To ensure the cookies would not flatten out too much when baked, I could have added more flour, but that would have given them a cakey texture, so instead, I added ½ cup of additional oats. It worked perfectly to keep my cookies nice and thick plus it intensified the oaty flavor.
My final tweak was to increase the amount of cinnamon in the recipe to ¾ teaspoon so the cookies had a nice spice flavor. If you prefer a cookie with less spice, reduce the cinnamon to ¼ teaspoon.
More Cookie Recipes
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies
- Cake Mix Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (coming soon)
Let's make soft oatmeal cookies!
Soft Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients
- unsalted butter - You will melt the butter, so you don't have to worry about setting it out on your counter to soften it.
- You can melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove.
- The original recipe calls for browning the butter. I honestly could not taste enough of a difference in the flavor of the cookies made with browned butter, so I didn't bother with it in my final recipe.
- cinnamon - You'll use ¾ teaspoon of cinnamon which will get bloomed in the melted butter (mixing it into warm butter will enhance the flavor). You can add less if you prefer a more pronounced oat flavor.
- vegetable oil - The oil is a key ingredient for making soft oatmeal cookies.
- granulated sugar - This sugar will not only add sweetness but it will also encourage browning.
- brown sugar - I used dark brown sugar to give these cookies a more robust toffee flavor, but light brown sugar works fine too.
- egg/egg yolk - You will use 1 large egg and 1 egg yolk. The extra yolk adds extra moisture to the cookie and ramps up the rich flavor.
- vanilla - Always use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for the best flavor.
- all-purpose flour - The amount of flour in this recipe is lower than in most recipes and this lower amount keeps the cookies from having a cakey texture but it's needed to give the cookies structure.
- We always recommend you weigh your flour to get the most accurate measurement. If you measure it using cups, spoon the flour into the cup, then scrape across the top of the measuring cup to remove the excess.
- We assume 4.5 ounces (127.57 grams) per cup.
- salt - Use ¾ teaspoon of table salt to balance the sweetness in the cookies.
- baking soda - Just ½ teaspoon will give your cookies the rise that they need.
- old-fashioned rolled oats - Your cookies will have the best flavor and texture when you use old-fashioned rolled oats.
Quick oats are partially cooked then dried and cut into smaller pieces so they cook more quickly on the stove. You can use them to make these oatmeal cookies, but the texture will not be quite the same. You can see in the picture above, how different the cookies look when made with instant oats.
I would not suggest using steel-cut oats to make these oatmeal cookies. They won't cook the same as old-fashioned rolled oats. They would produce hard crunchy cookies.
These cookies are not gluten-free, but you can find gluten-free oatmeal cookie recipes online like this recipe from gluten-free on a shoestring.
To make gluten-free oatmeal cookies, you would need to use gluten-free flour and oats. Oats are naturally gluten-free but they may come in contact with grains that contain gluten during processing and production. So, you would need to shop for gluten-free oats to be sure they are 100% gluten-free.
How to make soft oatmeal cookies?
step 1 - mix the wet ingredients
- Melt the butter in the microwave for about 40-50 seconds on high power or in a small saucepan set over medium-low heat. You can brown the butter if you prefer, but it's not necessary.
- Stir the cinnamon into the hot butter and allow it to rest for about 30 seconds.
- Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.
- Stir in the oil until blended, then add the granulated sugar and brown sugar, and mix until combined. The mixture will look gritty once blended together.
- Add the egg and egg yolk and vanilla and stir until mixed.
step 2 - stir in the dry ingredients
- Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda, then fold it into the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the old-fashioned rolled oats.
optional mix-ins
- raisins - Add 1 to 1 ½ cups of raisins to the cookie dough. I love these cookies packed with raisins so I opt for the larger amount.
- chocolate chips - Add 1 to 1 ½ cups or chocolate chips to the oatmeal cookie dough.
- walnuts - You can add ½ cup of chopped nuts to the cookie dough for a nutty crunchy texture. If you add nuts, you may want to limit the amount of raisins or chocolate chips so your total mixins do not go over 1 ½ cups.
- dried cranberries and orange zest - These cookies taste amazing with the addition of 1 cup of dried cranberries and the zest from one orange.
- dried cherries and white chocolate chips - Add ½ cup of each to make delicious cherry chip oatmeal cookies.
step 3 - scoop and bake your cookies
- Use a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop to scoop out 20 portions of the oatmeal cookie dough.
- Place the dough balls onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Then use your hand to gently flatten the rounded tops of the cookies.
- Your cookies should be flat on top and about 1-inch thick. See the picture in the top right.
- Then bake in a 375-degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
TIPS:
The cookie pictured in the lower right of the image above just came out of the oven. You can see it looks slightly wet in the center, but when you touch the edges they have just begun to set.
If you overbake these cookies, they will be dry and crunchy instead of soft, so it's always good to keep an eye on the cookies in the last minute or so of baking time.
It's also important to make sure your oven is baking at the right temperature. We recommend placing an oven thermometer inside the oven to make sure your oven is heating to the correct temperature.
soft oatmeal cookies
Perfectly soft and chewy oatmeal cookies have crispy edges but are soft throughout. These thick cookies taste great plain but are even better with raisins, chocolate chips, walnuts, cranberries, or cherries are mixed in.
Ingredients
- 143 grams all-purpose flour (5 ounces or 1 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 5 grams table salt (¾ teaspoon)
- 2 grams baking soda (½ teaspoon)
- 86 grams butter (3 ounces or 6 tablespoons)
- 1 gram cinnamon (¾ teaspoon)
- 74 grams vegetable oil (2.6 ounces or ⅓ cup)
- 149 grams dark brown sugar (5.25 ounces or ¾ cup tightly packed)
- 109 grams granulated sugar (3.8 ounces or ½ cup)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 6 grams pure vanilla extract (1 teaspoon)
- 300 grams old fashioned rolled oats (10.6 ounces or 3 ½ cups)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (189 Celcius).
- Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda, and set aside.
- Melt the butter using the microwave or stovetop.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the warm melted butter with the cinnamon and let rest for at least 30 seconds.
- Stir in the vegetable oil.
- Then, add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix until well combined.
- Stir in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
- Fold in the flour mixture.
- Finally, stir in the oats.
- Scoop out 20 cookies using a 2 tablespoon-size ice cream scoop or a measuring spoon onto the baking sheets, spacing the cookies a few inches apart.
- Gently flatten the rounded tops of the cookies so the cookies are about 2 inches in diameter and 1-inch thick.
- Bake one tray at a time for 8-10 minutes, rotating them halfway through, just until the edges start to firm up. The centers should still look slightly gooey.
- Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the hot baking pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- We always recommend you weigh your flour to get the most accurate measurement. If you measure it using cups, spoon the flour into the cup, then scrape across the top of the measuring cup to remove the excess.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- These cookies can be wrapped in wax paper, then placed in a zip-top bag, and frozen for up to 3 months.
- If desired, you can heat the cookies in the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm them up before eating.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 203Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 159mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 3g
HowToMakeEasyCookies.com offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you use to create this recipe.
More Cookie Recipes (pictured above)
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Did you make this recipe and think it was great or do have any questions? Leave a comment below and rate the recipe using stars (5 stars means you love it!)
Sally
I just mixed this up but the dough does not hold together - what am I doing wrong?
Beth Klosterboer
I'm sorry to hear the cookie dough didn't hold together. Did you weigh your ingredients or measure them using cups? It's very frustrating, but measuring cups are not all the same. I had some dry measuring cups that held 2 tablespoons more flour than another set of measuring cups. It's very challenging to make a recipe work when the measurements are so off. That is why I always recommend weighing your ingredients if you can. You'll get much more accurate measurements. If you had too much oatmeal or flour measured for this recipe, the cookie dough would be a little too loose to hold together. You could always add a bit of corn syrup to the cookie dough to help hold it together if this happens.