This recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies is about a century old, and comes from a cookbook that my grandmother received when she was young. These classic oatmeal cookies are one of my family’s favorite cookie recipes, and I think you’ll love them too!
We’re big lovers of oatmeal around here, so it’s no surprise that oatmeal cookies are a big hit with my kids.
It took me a while to find an oatmeal cookie recipe we all really loved though, until I went looking in an old cookbook that was my grandmother’s, back before she was married.
Oatmeal cookies were a bigger deal back then it seems. There are no less than four oatmeal cookie recipes in this slim little cookbook filled with regional recipes. It was published by a farm exchange, as a promotional effort for their products, which included things as diverse as household cleaner, vegetable seeds, and every kind of milled grain and flour you can imagine.
Contributors from New England and neighboring Eastern states offered up family favorite recipes for inclusion in the publication. One thing I love about this little cookbook is that the recipes are almost entirely no-fuss, practical recipes that make use of simple ingredients. It’s full of just good old fashioned homestead cooking.
And that’s exactly what these delicious little cookies are. Hearty, not-too-sweet, homestead fare. Perfect for wolfing down with a glass of milk, after stacking a cord or two of firewood.
Where the original recipe called for shortening, I’ve instead swapped out butter, which we now know is much healthier than processed, hydrogenated fats.
I also prefer the texture and flavor of organic raw cane sugar in these cookies, even though the original recipe simply says “sugar.” My hunch is that an organic and less-processed sugar is more similar to what would have been used in the earliest decades of the last century, than the super-refined and bleached sugars that are most common today.
These cookies are meant to be on the small side (as all cookies were expected to be back then), and dropped by teaspoon onto a cookie sheet.
That said – if you love huge, soft oatmeal cookies that are packed with raisins, and can pretty much substitute for a meal – this recipe holds up to that too. Just drop the cookie dough by 1/4 (or even 1/3) cupfuls onto your greased, or parchment-lined, cookie sheet. Adjust the time accordingly, letting them cook until the edges are brown, and the centers barely set, and you’ll have a perfect batch of giant oatmeal cookies.
This recipe is a winner both ways. I hope you love it as much as we do!
Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
This recipe for these classic oatmeal raisin cookies is over 100 years old, and comes from a cookbook that my grandmother received when she was young.
Ingredients
- 1 cup organic brown sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 3 Cups Rolled Oats
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- Cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the milk and egg.
- Add flour, salt, and baking soda, and oats, stirring well until thoroughly mixed.
- Stir in raisins until evenly incorporated.
- Drop by teaspoonful onto a well-greased cookie sheet.
- Bake 8 minutes at 400°F, until centers are barely set, and edges are golden brown.
Notes
For an extra touch, add 3/4 cup broken walnut or pecan pieces!
This recipe is plenty sweet - I often skip on the sugar and use 3/4 cup organic brown sugar. We love them just as much, and they're a little healthier!
