These whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookies are soft and chewy and are just as, if not more delicious, than the traditional version! If you don’t have whole wheat on hand, these can be made with all-purpose flour. I’ve also made these as gluten-free oatmeal cookies, which are just as delicious!
Looking at this recipe in the summer when it’s too hot to bake? Try these no-bake oatmeal cookies! They’re SO good. :D They’re also 100% whole grain and naturally gluten-free + vegan.
(The pictures were updated in April 2016 in case you’ve made these before and are confused by the different pictures!)
I know that oatmeal raisin cookies aren’t all that exciting for most people. But they’re so homey. And they make me think of school lunches, visits with grandparents, and baking with my mother.
People are stuffing all kinds of sweets into other sweets these days, and although I’m not exactly against it, I really love simple traditional goodies. You know, the kind our grandmas made. Today I was going through my recipe index and realized that I only have one such recipe: banana bread. No chocolate chip cookies, blueberry muffins, or chocolate brownies. All I’ve posted are more complex and, okay, more interesting versions of these. But sometimes I just want a plain brownie!
I realize that almost everyone already has their favorite recipe for such baked goods, but do most people have favorite healthified versions which taste just as good as their white flour counterparts? Nope! At least I hope not because every now and then, I’m going to post some traditional favorites that have been given a little nutritional makeover. I hope you all won’t find this boring!
This recipe substitutes coconut oil for butter, uses about half of the sugar a lot of recipes use, and is 100% whole grain. I used whole spelt, which I really prefer and recommend, but you can also use whole wheat. Regular whole wheat works as well as white whole wheat. Whichever you choose, these oatmeal raisin cookies don’t taste the least bit whole grain!
And even more important for me – the texture! These whole wheat oatmeal raisin cookies are SO thick and chewy. And they don’t have that slightly cakey feel that some healthy cookies have. At least if you don’t over bake them, which I did, thinking that they weren’t done.
Should you prefer more traditional cookies, check out these quaker oatmeal raisin cookies!
Are there any traditional favorites that you’d like a healthified version of? Let me know and I’ll see what I can do!
100% Whole Grain Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 18-20 large cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) whole spelt flour, whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (168 grams) coconut oil (unsalted butter works, too, but the cookies are chewier with coconut oil)
- 1 1/3 cups (266 grams) raw sugar, coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups (260 grams) quick oats
- 1 1/4 cups (190 grams) raisins (you could sub in some chocolate chips for a portion of the raisins or just place a few on top after baking, like I did in the picture)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Stir together the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the melted coconut oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and stir.
- Add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir just until combined. Stir in the oats and raisins, again stirring just until combined.
- Form the dough into 75-gram balls, about two inches or slightly over 1/4 cup in size, and place 4" apart on the prepared baking sheet. Press the balls down slightly with the palm of your hand. If your dough is too soft to roll into balls, refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until scoopable.
- Bake for 13-17 minutes or until the middle appears to be set and the cookies have evenly browned.
- Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container up to 5 days.
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141 comments on “Chewy Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies” — Add one!
4 comments are awaiting moderation!
This is the only oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I will use. And I didn’t even like o.r. cookies until I made these. Best recipe on the blog.
What a compliment – thank you! And I agree with you. I don’t want to try any other oatmeal raisin cookie recipes after making these! Thanks so much for your feedback. :)
Is there any way to sub for some of the sugar? Like taking some out or applesauce or honey instead? I don’t know the science of baking. At all. If I sub more goodies do I need to compensate for that? Like if I add other dried fruit and chocolate chips
thanks!
I know it’s a huge amount of sugar but this yields a large amount of cookies! They’re really not too sweet. :) You can reduce the amount or sub applesauce or honey, but all of those would make the cookies much cakier and less chewy. You can sub in whatever add-ins you like! As long as you don’t go overboard, you should be fine. You can add different types of chocolate, candy, nuts, dried fruit or whatever you want. :)
I made these exactly as the recipe calls for except I used old fashioned oats instead of quick oats, and I added 1/4c of chia seeds. As I was mixing them up, I thought they were so crumbly they would never make a solid cookie and would fall apart and waste all those expensive ingredients. Not so! I packed them a little bigger and baked for 13 minutes. These were perfect. Chewy and slightly crispy. They don’t look much like the ones in the photo, I wish I could share a pic!
I’m happy they came out well – especially with your changes! I’ve made these with old fashioned oats and quick oats and prefer the texture with quick oats (they also look different, like you said :)) Thanks so much for the feedback and sorry I don’t have any kind of upload function on the comments. I’ll have to look into that!
I actually stumbled upon this website.. when I searched for Healthy Raisin Oatmeal Wheat cookies. I wanted to bake some cookies for my 2 yr old.. and after going through this recipe, I really want to make a batch of these and gulp everything all by myself.. they are so tempting right now.. I am actually drooling while I type this :)..
And I am going to try this over the weekend :) thanks so much
I hope that you’ll enjoy them! And good luck on not eating all of them yourself. ;)
Hi!
Can I substitute the coconut sugar with brown sugar substitute? Such as this: http://www.presidentschoice.ca/en_CA/products/productlisting/pc_brown_sugar_blend_sucrellaprod1440037.html
That should work with the texture but I’d be worried about a weird aftertaste if you use all sugar sub. I hope it works out well, though! Let me know how it goes. :)
I substituted Namaste gluten free flour blend for the flour and they turned out great! Thank you for this recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that they came out well with a GF blend! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Amazing cookies!!!! I substituted part of the oats for unsweetened shredded coconut , skipped the raisins added craisins and chocolate …. For the love, they were crazy good. Had to give most away because it was hard not to resist having one with every meal and for snack :)
I’m so happy that you liked the cookies! Adding coconut sounds like a great idea. I’ve tried that before but I think I added way too much. I’ll have to try again! Thanks so much for the feedback and the rating. :)
I baked these cookies last night. The first batch came out so big because they do spread out. I cut down the size of the dough for the remaining batches. We love these cookies a lot!!! I think this is one of the best oatmeal raisin cookies recipe I have ever tried. We love chewy cookies and these cookies have the perfect texture. The sweetness is just right and the coconut oil really brings out the flavor of these cookies. Thank you for sharing this recipe. This is definitely a keeper and will be my go-to recipe.
That’s great to hear, Elza! So happy that you came out well for you. :) And yours spread out a lot?! Interesting. Mine hardly spread at all (but I kind of wish they did! ;)) Thanks so much for the feedback and the rating!
I made these a few weeks ago and they were really good! I was wondering if I can double the recipe to make more cookies for my BFF’s baby’s 1st birthday party?
So happy that you liked them, Elza! :) Doubling the recipe won’t be a problem but you might want to use a stand mixer just to make it easier. I hope they’ll enjoy them at the party! Thanks for the feedback and rating. :)
Hi again Erin!
Another Healthy Whole Grain Recipe that I would love to see made over is Classic Apple Crisp. And, ooh this is one that I would really love to have, Whole Grain Pie Crust to make Sugar Free Pies and Quiche with. Whole Grain Bisquit Recipe to top a Sugar Free Fruit Cobblers would also be great. Whole Grain Pancake and Waffle Recipies. Ok, I think I have provided a big enough wish list. Thank you!!! I now see your Whole Grain Irish Cream Brownie Recipe Below and that looks very interesting. I will have to check it out. Keep up the great work!! -Snoozie
Hi, Snoozie! Thank you so much for all your wonderful suggestions. :) I don’t have a waffle iron so that one won’t happen, but these 100% whole grain pancakes are by far my favorite pancakes, whole grain or not! I’ll do a classic apple crisp in the fall but until then, try subbing apples in this blueberry peach crumble. It’s my favorite. :) As for the others, I’ll definitely give them a try! Thank you again for nice your comment! :)
Also Erin, it was very cute to see my son nabbed the last Oatmeal Cookie and put it by his bowl of soup. He quietly showed me that he too valued these tasty Oatmeal Cookies. The 100% Whole Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix I saw on the grocery shelf here in the USA so no need to fuss over that recipe. I bought my waffle iron at a German Owned Grocery Chain here in the USA called “Aldi’s”. They should also be in Germany. I have owned it for more than ten years now. I love it because it makes four heart shaped waffles that are more special than just square or round ones and the price was very reasonable. I will try your Crumble Recipe next. Thank you once again and you are impressingly quick with your response time. This is the first recipe website that I have seen where the baker/cook actually interacts with the website viewers and it is so helpful! :D
I studied in Darmstadt, Germany and my hosts served awesome Sunflower Seed Thinly Sliced Bread that we would toast and spread Hazlenut Spread on in the mornings. It tasted like it was whole grain and was absolutly delicious. That would be a great recipe for your site as I have been searching for that recipe for years. Have a wonderful day in Deutchland! -Snoozie
Hehe. Yes. We have Aldi in Germany. They’re everywhere! Thanks so much for the tip.
Oh, and thank you for the comment concerning the interaction thing! I’m so happy that someone appreciates it. ;)
So fun that you studied in Germany! I took a look at German sunflower seed bread recipes. Do any of these look like what you’re looking for?
And aww. So cute that your son claimed the last cookie for himself! So happy that he enjoyed them. :)
Thanks again for your feedback and I hope you’ll enjoy the crumble, Snoozie!
Hi Erin!
For Saint Patrick’s Day I planned to make Irish Oatmeal Cookies but wanted to make them as healthy as possible and my recipe calls for white sugar,brown sugar, white flour and butter. I bought a small 2 lbs of King Arthur Premium 100% Whole Wheat Flour, chopped walnuts and raisins. I will have to run back to the store to try to find Coconut Oil now that I have all of the other ingredients. I need to watch my Sugar Intake and White Flour and I desire to find healthier alternatives sans preservatives w/more fiber for my entire family. Your idea to create healthy versions of the classics is awesome and not one bit boring! You are saving people’s health! Thank you. When I first noticed the whole wheat packs of flour I was curious but had no recipies to use whole wheat and the packages simply say that you could start by substituting 50-50 white flour for whole wheat in your favorite recipies but that more liquids may be needed. I thought great,I will be lucky to find time to do ANY baking and I don’t have time or funds to be the test kitchen. I was hoping there would be some recipies right on the pack but I didn’t see any so I didn’t purchase the whole wheat flour the first time that I saw it. And, if I was to use Whole Wheat Flour I wanted to use 100 percent of the flour as whole wheat not just 50 percent of what the recipe called for. Other classic recipies that I would like to see a delicious completely whole wheat, stevia (or healthy sugar substitute), apple sauce/non-butter/non-shortening versions are: pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, cranberry nut bread, date/nut bread, banana bread, blueberry muffins, blueberry buckle, gingerbread, gingerbread cookies, ginger snap cookies, Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies, carrot cake, and Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies. I think that all of these items and flavors would lend themselves to whole wheat flour too. Thank you again Erin for your Chewy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe which I am so eager to try after such wonderful reviews!!!
Oh my gosh! So many ideas! Thank you. :) And I love that you want to make your goodies 100% whole grain and not 50%. There are very rare instances that I’ll settle for 50% whole grain (usually if there’s yeast involved and I don’t want them to taste whole grain – it’s hard to do that with 100% whole grains!) and cookies definitely aren’t one of them! I have a few recipes that I think may help you out. 100% whole grain banana bread, a few different types of applesauce, 100% whole grain soft and chewy ginger cookies, healthier NYT chocolate chip cookies (way better than Tollhouse, in my opinion ;)) and 100% whole grain carrot cake. And about this recipe, if you don’t have coconut oil on hand, you can use butter! I tested that a few weeks ago and it worked out fine. :) Thank you SO much for your kind comment and suggestions! I will definitely work on them. I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies! Let me know how they come out. :)
Hi Erin!
Last week I baked your recipe for Oatmeal Cookies! 5 people tried them and everyone thought they were great. My daughter actually said that she prefered my Oatmeal Cookies to 2 types of storebought white flour /white sugar cookies that I had bought for my “kids” for St.Pat’s Day. It is hard to believe but true thanks to your recipe! A diabetic friend also loved them. Even my husband who says that he doesn’t like sweets and said that he wasn’t even interested in trying a cookie at first ended up having to admit that he enjoyed them. They are hearty, comforting and not so sicky sweet as most oatmeal cookies that they are even suitable for a breakfast on the run or with a commuter’s mug of coffee or tea. I used Stevia (5/6 cup) and Sugar (1/2 cup) as the Stevia bag said when baking it was important to use half Stevia and half sugar to achieve browning etc. but as you said with your sweetener this recipe doesn’t brown and it didn’t even with the 1/2 cup sugar so next time I will try 100% Stevia (natural zero calorie sweetener derived from a plant from South America). Also, I added about 1/2 cup chopped Walnuts which I really thought added flavor if you like nuts I recommend adding them. I had the crumbling problem that I had read another baker had in a previous comment. The reason I suspect is that it was difficult to measure the Coconut Oil becasue it was so hard to scoop out of the jar, opaque white, and perhaps there were pockets of air space in my opaque measuring cup. (It was not like Stick Butter that is easy to measure when the paper is marked for baking). So, I added one more egg to the mixture and melted a few more teaspoons of Coconut Oil in the Microwave Oven and added that to the batter in the bowl and reformed my cookie balls / which then were flattened into patties (like forming Hamburger Patties) and you are right they came out of the oven the size and shape that they went in with very little morphing of shape as your common cookie recipe usually does. I am so pleased with the outcome of your recipe Erin! I am dieting and this takes the edge off by having an occasional healthy baked good. And, I am happy to have a healthy cookie treat to offer to my children. Thank you SO MUCH! Keep up the excellent work.
I’m so happy that everyone enjoyed them! :) About measuring of coconut oil – do you have a scale? I’ve never actually scooped coconut oil into a measuring cup, just because it sounds difficult and messy. Definitely use a scale if you have one! I’ve listed the weights for everything so there’s no need to convert anything. And I’m so happy to hear that adding a little more oil and egg helped make the dough less crumbly! I think you’re right and that it must be the oil. I’ve made these cookies so many times and for me, they’re usually on the wet and gooey side, which is why I recommend refrigerating the dough before baking. Awesome that these came out well with Stevia! I don’t really use Stevia in baking but when I use it in my smoothies, there’s a little aftertaste. You might want to keep that in mind when doing 100% Stevia. OR perhaps only my Stevia has a slightly funny aftertaste. ;) Thank you SO much for all the feedback! I was so happy when your comment came in and I read that you had make the cookies and liked them. :)
Wow – just baked these cookies.added goldenberries and cacao nibs YUMMMMMMMMM.
Need to hide then somewhere – freezer is too obvious! Thank you for the recipe.
Hehe. Good luck with finding a good hiding place! And I’ve never heard of goldenberries. I’m off to look into those! Thanks so much for the feedback and the rating. :)
Thanks for a fantastic recipe. Coconut oil is solid like butter and gives these cookies that satisfyingly chewy, slightly crisp texture. Canola oil made for a cakey texture that some like but that’s not how I like my oatmeal raisin cookies.
That’s great to know, Tammy! I’m going to keep that in mind when making recipes in the future. I’m so happy that you enjoyed the cookies. Thanks for the feedback and the rating! :)
Erin, your 100% whole grain chewy raison cookies were outstanding! I substituted canola oil for coconut oil and they were to die for. I also threw in some chopped up dates. Really great, thanks!
Ooh, good to know that canola oil works! So happy that you enjoyed the cookies. And dates sounds like an interesting addition. :) Thanks so much for the feedback!
Hi! If I don’t have coconut oil, could I replace that with regular canola (I am aware of the health benefits but it’s just available where I live)? Thanks!
I haven’t tried that but I’m assuming it would work! I just can’t guarantee it since I haven’t tried. Let me know if it comes out well and good luck! :)
Hi! I am new to your site! And soooo very HAPPY to have found it. I cannot wait to make these cookies!! Plus many more of your recipes.
Thank you!
AliceJoy
And I’m SO happy that you found my site! :) I really hope you enjoy the cookies and the other recipes. I’d love to hear how they come out! :)
Hi Erin,
I am always on the lookout for healthy baked good recipes to make for my family and grandchildren. I was searching for a new whole wheat oatmeal cookie recipe and I came across your site. I must tell you that these are, hands down, the best whole wheat oatmeal cookies I have ever made. I liked that they call for coconut oil instead of butter and I used chopped dates in place of the raisins and added some chopped walnuts. My 6 year old grandson looked at me and said “Gram these are the best cookies I have ever had.” Kudos!! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thanks, again.
Hi Kelley! Wow. I’m so happy that you and your grandkids liked these so much! Your grandson’s comment made my day. :) I hope that you’ll enjoy the other recipes! Thanks a ton for your comment and the feedback. Let me know how the other recipes come out! (and I love your changes. Sounds great!)
Hi Erin ~ I just pulled the second batch of these cookies out of the oven and, other than cutting down on the sugar since I tossed in some chocolate chips, I followed the recipe exactly and it is WONDERFUL! Thank you for this deliciousness.
I’m happy to hear that you liked them! Thanks for the feedback. :) And chocolate chips… that sounds like a wonderful idea!
Hi Erin! I made these cookies again yesterday (which is really saying something because I rarely make the same recipe twice, but loved them so much that I haven’t stopped thinking about them since the first go-round!), but this time they didn’t quite turn out and I’m curious if you might be able to troubleshoot why. So the issue: the dough wasn’t as “sticky” as my first batch and pretty much just crumbled when I tried to roll it into balls. I tossed it in the fridge for a little while, which seemed to help, but the cookies still wound up fairly dry. I used less sugar than your recipe calls for (probably just under a cup), so i knew it might be a little bit more cake-like. I also sort of lost track of melting the coconut oil, so it got pretty hot. I wonder if that did it? Any other thoughts to help me avoid a crumbly cookie? This is still my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie to date! :)
Crumbly?! Hmm. I have no idea how that could have happened. :( I made these about a week ago and the dough was so sticky that I had to refrigerate it before I could even roll them into balls. I don’t think reducing the sugar by a little more than 1/3 cup would have caused them to be crumbly. Cakey, like you said, but not so crumbly. And I’m not an expert but I don’t think super hot coconut oil could have done it, either. Could it be possible that you accidentally added too much flour / oats or too little oil? That could have definitely caused the problem. I do stuff like that all the time unless I triple check every step of the way! I am the queen of adding extra cups of flour or even completely forgetting the butter (during non-blog baking ;)) I’m sorry they didn’t come out for you this time but I hope you’ll give it another try in the future! And thanks for letting me know that they’re your favorite. :)
To the person who asked whether I prefer quick or old fashioned oats for this recipe: Sorry that your comment isn’t here. We switched blogging platforms from Blogger to WordPress last night and a few comments got lost.
I answered your question (which was also deleted) but basically I said thanks for pointing it out and old-fashioned oats are what you want here. Thanks again and sorry! :)
Your whole grain chewy oatmeal raisin cookies look absolutely delicious and healthy.