This is my Nanny's recipe for Soft Oatmeal Cookies that I enjoyed all my childhood.

Tender, pillowy, and studded with plump raisins, these are the best oatmeal cookies to have on hand for a quick snack or to include in a holiday cookie tray!

A stack of 3 soft oatmeal cookies studded with raisins.

While I love chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, these soft oatmeal cookies bring back a lot of childhood memories, and these classic cookies are pure comfort food for me.

❤️ Why you'll love it

✔️ The cookies are puffy and soft with a hint of cinnamon.

✔️ Just 1 cookie has 70 calories, so you can help yourself to 2 without guilt!

✔️ You get 3 dozen good sized cookies from 1 batch!

🥘 Ingredients

Vegetable oil, feel free to use canola oil or olive oil. I went with vegetable oil because that is what my grandmother used and it is more budget friendly.

Granulated sugar

Large eggs, take the eggs out at least 15 minutes to bring to room temperature before mixing together the cookie dough

Ground cinnamon, adds a touch of sweet warmth to the cookies

Vanilla extract, I always use pure vanilla extract. If using imitation, you may want to double the amount used.

Buttermilk, I don't always have buttermilk on hand and sometimes it is hard to find in the store. But Kefir is a great substitute in a pinch or make your own by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to the measuring cup and filling the cup with whole milk.

All purpose flour, flour doesn't have to be sifted, but at least stir the flour with a spoon to aerate it.

Old fashioned oats, these are also known as whole oats.

Baking powder aids making a puffed cookie.

Salt to balance out the flavors.

Raisins (optional)

Walnuts (optional)

Adding wet ingredients to dry ingredients. — I like to blend all wet ingredients and add at once to the flour mixture.

Pouring oats into cookie batter. — I like to blend all wet ingredients and add at once to the flour mixture.

🔪 Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together canola oil, granulated sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla extract until well combined.
In a separate bowl whisk together baking soda, baking powder, white whole wheat ﬂour and oatmeal.
Stir ½ dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Add buttermilk and stir until just combined. Add remaining ﬂour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in raisins if desired.
Scoop batter with cookie scoop and place on prepared baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven for 14-15 minutes or until edges are slightly browned and top of cookie no longer looks wet.
Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Cookie dough on parchment lined baking sheet.

🥄 Equipment

Large mixing bowl

Mixing spoon, there is no need for an electric mixer with this recipe, a spoon will suffice.

Measuring cup and spoons

Rubber scraper

Medium cookie scoop

Cooling rack

Parchment paper

Cookie sheet

🥫Storage

Store cookies in an airtight container on the counter at room temperature up to 5 days and in the freezer up to 3 months.

Baked Soft Oatmeal Cookies on a baking sheet.

📖 Variations

Use your favorite add ins instead of the raisins. Great choices would chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or candy coated chocolate pieces.
1 cup unsalted butter can be melted and used in place of the vegetable oil. Just remember the cookies may not be as soft as if you used oil.
Quick oats can replace the whole oats, when doing so, the batter will be a little thicker due to the difference in the oats.
Substitute light brown sugar half of the white sugar or use dark brown sugar to give the cookies a more caramelized flavor.
Coconut oil can be used in place of vegetable oil without changing the texture of the cookie. It will give the cookie a hint of coconut flavor.

💭 Tips

For a more shaped cookie, gradually add more flour to the dough to make it stiffer. Then roll out the dough on a floured work surface and cut into circle shapes. The end result will still be a soft, but firmer cookie.
I don't recommend using a hand mixer for this recipe. The oil in the recipe makes it very easy to mix with a spoon. As the dough comes together it will come clean easily from the sides of the bowl due to the oil in the dough.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop cookie dough balls onto the sheet. Freeze cookie dough until stiff, then transfer to the freezer in an airtight container. To bake, remove oatmeal cookie dough from freezer and place on baking sheet. Cook time will be a little longer due to the frozen dough, just bake until edges are brown and top of the cookie is no longer wet.

A plate full of oatmeal cookies studded with raisins.

Old Fashioned Peanut butter cookies have crispy edges and chewy centers.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are a family favorite chewy oatmeal cookie.

This Strawberry Baked Oatmeal is perfect for weekend brunches.

Peanut butter lovers will love these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies.

These Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies are for chewy cookie lovers!

🍽 Serve with...

Serve these soft oatmeal cookies with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream, glass of milk, of hot cup of coffee.

🏫 The last word

Nanny's kitchen always had cookies in it and if the box in the cupboard was empty, you could be sure there was a box in the freezer. She always made soft, tender cookies and all of the grandkids loved the old-fashioned cookies

The one thing Nanny's soft cookie recipes all had in common was the use of oil to make the dough. I believe that is the main factor in making these cookies pillowy and soft.

When you make this recipe, please comment below and let me know what you think. I'd love it if you tag me on Instagram @grumpyshoneybunch or #grumpyshoneybunch so I can see your photos!

If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating

📖 Recipe