Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

Chewy and hearty with a hint of sweet in every juicy raisin, these Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies are too good to stop eating.

My husband was craving a classic cookie, so he made this old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from our family archives.  This is one of my grandma’s best vintage cookies!

Our Applesauce Raisin Cookies, Sour Cream Cookies, and Cottage Cheese Cookies have also been very popular and stood the test of time.

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe

Add a glass of milk to the old fashioned cookies with a thick hearty flavor of oats and chewy raisins and it’s tempting to make a meal out of these delicious treats!

We love family recipes like Old-Fashion Cream Pie that have been around for decades.  This simple oatmeal cookie is a heritage recipe that we will always cherish.

Sometimes we are entertained by the lack of instructions.  This recipe card simply had a list of ingredients.  None of the minor details like baking time or temperatures were disclosed.  Fortunately, we were able to test variations and end up these delicious old fashioned oats cookie recipe!

The coarse texture of oatmeal blends well with the juicy raisins and nuts to create the old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. An optional addition that my grandma enjoyed is adding up to a whole cup of chopped nuts or nut meats.

Ingredients Needed

• Rolled oats are the same as old-fashioned oats.
• All-Purpose Flour
• Granulated sugar
• Shortening – my grandma used traditional shortening, but I like to use the butter flavored version.
• Eggs
• Milk
• Baking Soda
• Cinnamon
• Raisins – the old recipe calls for seedless raisins.
• Nuts – are optional, add anywhere from 1/2 up to 1 full cup for an extra crunchy cookie.

A Vintage Cookie Recipe

As much as we like old-fashioned recipes and stories, we’re really grateful for minor conveniences like a cookie dough scoop that make our life easier.  These modern conveniences and increases in disposable income that have allowed us to purchase more of these conveniences make our lives much more comfortable than our grandparent’s lives.

I can use a cookie scoop to make cookies much more quickly than using a teaspoon.  I can also make cookies that are all the same size as the cookie scoop.  This makes baking easier because the entire cookie sheet bakes at the same rate and is finished at the same time.

We have the same experiences on the farm.  New tools and technology can make our lives easier.  A couple years ago I shared this comparison about making pig feed on a small farm versus a large farm.  There are still families involved in each size, but the equipment is different.  Frankly, there’s a lot of farm equipment that’s big and modern that just saves a lot of time and back-breaking labor while making farm life a lot easier.

We hope that you enjoy some of our cookie recipes!

How to Make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Cream sugar and shortening together.  Add eggs, mix well.
3. Add milk, mix well.
4. Stir together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
5. Add slowly to creamed mixture.  Mix well.
6. Add raisins and oats and mix well.
7. Drop by teaspoon or cookie dough scoop onto a greased or lined baking sheet. 
8. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

• Avoid using quick oats – old-fashioned oats will give you a fuller, more hearty flavor
• Raisins and chopped nuts are the ingredients that make this cookie an old-fashioned favorite. My kiddos enjoy raisins, but we typically omit the nuts.
• Use a glass turned upside down over the cookies as soon as they are removed from the oven. Gently rotate and shake to make the cookies perfectly round.

More Delicious Cookie Recipes

• Almond Bark Cookies
• Pay Day Crunch
• Best Chocolate Chip Cookies {Farmhouse Style}
• Butterscotch Refrigerator Cookies
• Peanut Butter Paw Print Cookies from Cooking with Carlee

Recipe originally shared on October 8, 2018 with updates made on September 1, 2024.