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!
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Just made 1/2 the recipe with a few substitutions. I made these with a half cup of maple syrup instead of the coconut sugar and half the oats and half the whole spelt flour.Also used grapeseed oil instead of coconut oil. Came out awesome!! I am on a strict diet sugar wise and also cant cook with coconut oil but I loved the recipe so much I had to try it with a few subtitutions. Thanks for the recipe!! You rock! ❤❤
Wow! I’m honestly shocked that it worked well with your changes. But I’m so glad that it worked! Thanks for sharing your modifications. :) And thanks again for your nice comment!
Yes i commented on here again thats how awesome they came out. LOL Very moist with a old fashioned oatmeal cookie taste. You have to make the vegan version trust me its soooo good.
Haha. Well I appreciate you coming back to comment again and to share your version! Thanks again! :)
These are amazing!! I used refined coconut oil and really loved the taste. My family couldn’t tell that they were gluten free. That’s a win for me!
Meant to say unrefined! :)
Yay! I’m happy you all enjoyed them! You posted on the whole wheat version. Was it these gluten-free oatmeal cookies that you made? Either way, that’s awesome your family couldn’t tell that they were GF! Thanks for your comment. :)
Another great recipe! Thanks. My husband will love these oatmeal cookies after work today. I added raisins walnuts and chocolate chips. They stayed their shape and didn’t spread. I used 100%whole wheat flour.
Sorry for just now seeing your comment! I hope that your husband enjoyed them. :) Walnuts sounds like a yummy addition! Thanks for your comment.
I tried these tonight with chocolate-covered raisins, pecans and some chocolate chips. I can’t have cinnamon nor bake with it. These came out AMAZING! I bake for my boyfriend’s staff (3rd shift Alzheimers unit nurses) and they raved as well. Your comments and suggestions are right on- signs of an experienced baker. Need to browse the rest of your page now!
With chocolate-covered raisins?! Yum. That sounds amazing! I’m so happy that you and your boyfriend’s co-workers enjoyed them. :) Thanks so much for your nice comments and I hope you’ll enjoy the other recipes just as much! I posted this recipe when I could still eat wheat so a lot of my recipes are grain-free these days. But you can find all my whole grain recipes right here. :)
I baked them. They were delicious! they just turned out to be too sweet for my taste, even though I only used about two thirds of the amount of sugar in the recipe! The next time I will be using only one sixth of the recipe amount. I also think that the cookies were too large with 75 gram scoops, so I am going to make each of them about 20 grams, from now on!
Thank you for the recipe.
I’m happy you enjoyed them! Just as a little warning – if you reduce the sugar from 1 1/3 cups down to 3.5 tablespoons, the cookies likely won’t hold together well and will be very cakey. Just wanted to make sure you were aware before trying. I’d love to hear how it goes! Thanks for your comment. :)
These cookies are delicious!!! I think I have made them at least 20 times in the past 6 months, sometimes even doubling the recipe! I had to go dairy, soy and chocolate free due to my nursing babies food intolerances and saying I’m a “dessert person” is an understatement. I had been making them with whole wheat sprouted flour and cooking them 9 to 10 minutes, but I just made them with sprouted spelt flour for the first time and cooked them 12 minutes and they are even better!! Thank you for sharing an amazing recipe!
I love spelt! It’s so much less whole grainy than whole wheat. And it’s great to know that they work well with sprouted grains. I’m so happy that you’ve been enjoying the cookies and that they don’t upset your baby! Thanks for your comment. :)
I just tried this recepie and I really liked it. I made some changes. I used the oats flour, like mentioned before and the texture is great. I used coconut sugar and for my taste they are quite sweet, you could go for less sugar, specially if using raisins ( I didn’t). Instead, I mixed cacao nibs and pecans and they give a great mild nutty chocolate flavor. Definitely a great recipe and I know I’ll improve it next time. Thank you for sharing!!! Love it!
I’m happy you enjoyed them with oat flour! I still have yet to try that. Thanks for your feedback! :)
Delicious! I didn’t need to bake them that long, about 11 minutes. Also I frosted mine with powder sugar (cream and vanilla) frosting. Thanks for the great recipe.
I bet these are amazing with frosting! Thanks a bunch for your comment. :)
I have been making these cookies for 4 years! They never disappoint. Thanks again for such a killer recipe, Erin. I’m a new mama and I just read the comment above about using all oats/flax seed and I’m going to give that a go next time.
Awesome! I’m so happy that you’ve been enjoying the cookies for the past few years. I’d love to hear how you think the all oats and flax version compares to the original recipe. I still have to try it out! Thanks a bunch for your feedback. :)
Thanks for the great recipe, Erin! These are my go-to lactation and eat-on-the-go-with-kids cookies. I’ve been using oat flour (just ground up old fashioned oats) instead of whole wheat, and they work wonderfully. I usually make them with chocolate chips and walnuts.
Oooh! I really want to try that. Do you use 1 1/2 cups of oat flour or are you using 190 grams? I’m going to give it a try! Thanks a bunch for the tip and for your feedback. :)
I use 1 1/2 cups of oat flour (measured after it’s ground, just like wheat flour). Recently, I’ve also tried 1 cup of oat flour and 1/2 cup of ground flaxseed. Again, they work great…it’s a super forgiving recipe!
That’s great to know! I’m definitely going to try that. Thanks a bunch for your reply! :)
If you use chia, use eggs too??
I think that person used the ground flaxseed in place of 1/2 cup of the flour. So you would still need the eggs.
Hi Erin! I’m so glad to have found your website! Love your recipes. Just a question about the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Can I substitute almond flour for the splet and whole wheat flour? Thanks for your reply,
Roberta
Hi Roberta! I’m happy you found my website, too. :) Unfortunately, nuts flours aren’t interchangeable with non-nut flours. However, you’re in luck because I have a really awesome “oatmeal” cookie recipe I posted a few weeks ago – paleo oatmeal cookies. I hope you’ll enjoy them! I’d love to hear how they come out. :)
These cookies are amazing! I bake all the time and this recipe goes to the top of the list hands down. Made exactly as written, including the touch of pressing chocolate chips into the top when they came out of the oven. What a great idea! I used half butter and half melted coconut oil and half unbleached and half whole wheat flour. 12 mins in the oven. Saving it to my recipe file now!
That’s wonderful! I’m so happy that you liked them. :) And to the top of the list? Woohoo. I’m thrilled to hear that! Thanks for sharing your modifications and your comment.
It is not safe for me to be in the same building with these cookies. Honestly the best oatmeal raisin cookie I’ve ever tasted! Made them twice now and people keep begging me for the recipe. A lot of them are way too sweet, but yours is absolutely perfect. Thanks for a fantastic recipe blog!
Haha. I know how you feel! I have the same issue with these cookies. Thanks so much for your feedback! :) I’m happy you found them not too sweet.
Dough, these are so good! Thank you! I see every raisin to make this my go to recipe. And! The cookies didn’t spread and flatten like other recipes I’ve tried.
I’m so happy you liked them so much! I also like how they don’t flatten. :) Thanks for your comment!
Took your oatmeal cookies and converted them to gluten free and sugar free using tiff flour, coconut flour and buckwheat flour along with gluten free oats, stevia and monk fruit sugar also added sugar free almond butter and pecans since I couldn’t do the raisens…yummy!
This is a wonderful recipe if you have candida.
Wow! That’s awesome that your subs worked out. Did you see the gluten-free version I linked to at the beginning of the post? I think I like them even more than the whole wheat version. :) I’ve never tried making them sugar-free. I’ll have to look into monk fruit sugar! Thanks a bunch for your feedback.
Thank you so much for the note about the pictures being updated!! I haven’t made them in a few months and went looking for the recipe and was in a tiny panic I couldn’t find “my cookie recipe” lol! Then I saw the note, phew! This is them! This is my go to recipe! I often make them as gifts for new mommies. It’s the perfect hearty, sweet snack when you’re spending hours on end breastfeeding a newborn! I’ve also added Brewers yeast and ground flax to turn them into “milk cookies” for new mamas. Still delicious! Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
Haha. I’ve had that happen to me and I always freak out so I thought I’d better add the note. ;) I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying the cookies and I love that you make them for new moms! How much Brewers yeast and ground flax do you add? I’d love to try that, too! Thanks a bunch for your comment. :)
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies not that exciting??!!! Are you nutz?!! I know you’re not, but had to add for dramatic effect:-) O-R cookies top my list as the best cookie when done right, but done wrong so many times. Nevertheless, I’d never turn one down and so enjoy my continuing journey for finding the best of the best. I’m already certain I’m going to enjoy yours before I get home to try this them tonight. Thanks for sharing!!!
Well I love them but they’re not quite as fancy as some other types. ;) I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies if you tried them out! Thanks for your comment. :)
Hi Erin,
I couldn’t respond in the blog with photos, but wanted to share the results with you. OUTSTANDING! One key ingredient that I’d been avoiding for so long was the use of coconut oil along with your recipe, made an excellent cookie, at least what I’ve been looking for in an Oatmeal-Raisin cookie. Each batch turned out thick, moist and chewy. The first batch was with raisins, but the second batch was with craisins and they really drove us wild! Thank you for opening my mind!!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18hSyvUVrrdZWc0a2hjejdSdkotOFVLb19YVUJCZTQyZFEw/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B18hSyvUVrrdTTV1a05MZnl0bjhCZjR2d09xTWdXWmZ4YnlN/view?usp=sharing
Thanks a ton for sharing your pictures and letting us know how they came out! I’m super happy to hear how much you enjoyed them. :)
Hi Erin, I actually made these cookies following the recipe in your cookbook. i used coconut oil and coconut sugar. I also traded out the raisins for dried cherries and cacao nibs. These were so chewy and delicious. I loved them!
Hi, Heather! It’s always so nice to hear from you. :) I hope you’ve been well. I love your dried cherry and cacao nibs idea! I think I’ll have to try that, too, but with chocolate chunks! Thanks so much for your feedback. :)
These are the most delicious oatmeal raisin cookies EVER! I made a batch and my husband and son went nuts over them! My son dislikes raisins, but he says he likes them in this cookie. Chewy perfection!
That’s great that your family enjoyed them so much! And awesome that your son even likes the raisins in the cookies. :) I’m not a huge fan of raisins, either, but I definitely like them in these cookies! Thanks so much for the feedback. :)
Hi Erin,
these cookies have one serious flaw… It is too hard not to eat the dough raw!! :D :D
The ones that I managed to bake were absolutely delicious too, even when overbaked (my first batch was outright crunchy, not chewy, but the kids did not mind one bit!)
Hi, Iga! The beginning of your comment sent me into a mega panic that was over in milliseconds. ;) I’m so happy that the cookies came out well! How strange that the cookies came out crunchy at first. I’m happy you were able to get them chewy in the second batch! Thank you so much for the feedback. :)