Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes cookie soft and chewy? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

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.

Not Enough Moisture: Ensure you're using the right amount of butter in your recipe and that it's at the correct temperature (softened not melted) when you start. Oatmeal cookies require more moisture to stay soft. Consider adding an extra egg yolk or a touch of milk to your dough to enhance moisture content.

Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter. Raisins: Soak your raisins in warm water for 10 minutes before using (blot very well to dry them) – this makes them nice and plump for your cookies.

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

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.

Keep Them Sealed

The key to keeping cookies fresh and soft is to seal them in an airtight container, like a resealable freezer bag. And here's a nifty little trick: add a piece of bread to the bag. You might think that the bread trick works because the cookies absorb moisture from the bread.

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.

Overbaking is the most common cause of hard oatmeal cookies. Cookies continue to cook on the baking sheet even after they're removed from the oven, so try taking them out when they're just lightly golden and still a bit soft in the middle. They'll firm up as they cool, resulting in a chewier texture.

What is wrong with my oatmeal cookies? ›

It's extremely important to measure both the oats and flour correctly using the this method or a kitchen scale. Too much of either will dry out the cookies and leave them crumbly instead of chewy. This is especially true for the oats! Oats act like little sponges and soak up moisture in the cookie dough.

Take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 15-30 minutes. This allows the fats in the dough (like butter) to soften, making the dough more pliable. Gently knead the dough with your hands. This helps distribute warmth and encourages the fats to soften.

Try sautéing them the raisins in oil over medium heat, stirring frequently until they are puffy and round. Let them cool, and you will be left with extra chewy raisins, similar to the texture of ones in a granola bar.

No competition. You should only use golden raisins, as far as we're concerned. (And, to really make sure they're plump and flavorful, soak them in a nice vinegar before adding them to a recipe.)

chewy vs crispy is a combination of 2 things… ratio of fats to flour, and baking times/temps.. for more chewy cake like cookies, you want something with a high fat, content cooked at a lower longer temperature… for a more crispy or dryer cooking you want a lower fat batter cooked at a high temperature.

Butter contributes milk solids and water to a cookie, both of which soften it. Brown sugar contributes molasses – again, a softener. Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies.

Cookies. Cornstarch does kind of incredible things to cookies. I mean not only does it give them soft centers, prevents them from spreading, and makes them somewhat thick (in a good way), but it also contributes to the chewiness factor, which, in my opinion, is the most important cookie attribute.