The BEST Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe

You're going to love these soft centred, crispy edged sourdough oatmeal raisin cookies! They will remind you of warm cosy winters and hot cocoa and fill your heart with joy.

Full of old fashioned oats and juicy raisins and sweetened with soft brown sugar and just a hint of cinnamon, you'll need to make a double batch of these chewy sourdough oatmeal cookies!

This is a great recipe to have on hand for hearty after schools or filling the cookie jar before the grandkids come over. They really are the perfect cookie ... and even better because they're full of sourdough goodness too!

If you love sourdough cookie recipes, then you might also enjoy these sourdough cornflake raisin cookies, sourdough chocolate chip cookies, these sourdough breakfast cookies or even these sourdough gingerbread cookies. You'll find a whole collection of sourdough cookie recipes here.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Chewy Cookies - if you are a lover of chewy cookies, you know the ones with the crispy edges and the soft, chewy middles, then these are going to be your new favorite cookies! 

Use Up Extra Sourdough Starter - these sourdough discard cookies work just as well with sourdough discard as they do with active sourdough starter, so you can use up that extra starter from making a loaf of sourdough bread without anything going to waste (because we really hate food waste)!

No Fancy Equipment - you can make these cookies with a set of kitchen scales, a large mixing bowl and a couple of parchment-lined cookie sheets. You can use a fork to mix the ingredients together instead of fancy equipment. Using a kitchen scale means you weigh everything straight into the bowl. This means less washing up ... winning!

How To Make Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Making these sourdough oatmeal raisin cookies is so easy! You can mix the ingredients in a large bowl and you don't even need a mixer or beater. I've literally just mixed the ingredients with a fork because I love the simplicity of it all. But you can definitely use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you would prefer to. 

Preheat oven to 190C (375F) and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper (unless you are going to ferment the cookie dough in the fridge, in which case you don't need to turn the oven on just yet).

Cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar together in a large mixing bowl. You can use a stand mixer or electric mixer if you like, but I have just done this with a fork. I've used salted butter but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.

Now add the egg, sourdough starter and vanilla extract to the bowl and whip together until the wet ingredients mixture is light and fluffy. Again, you can use a stand mixer or electric mixer to do this, but to keep things simple a spatula or fork is fine to save dishes!

Now add all of the other dry ingredients - all purpose flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, rolled oats and raisins and gently mix together to form a sticky dough. It will be fairly wet and that's ok.

You can choose to use the cookie dough straight away, or you can place the cookie dough in the fridge for up to 2 days to ferment and firm up. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to stop it drying out.

Using a large spoon or cookie scoop, scoop balls of dough onto one of the parchment-lined baking sheet. These sourdough oatmeal cookies will spread so make sure you leave at least 2" between each dough ball. Repeat until you've used all the mixture.

Place trays into the oven and bake for around 10 minutes at 190C (375F) or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown but the middles are still soft. Don't let them overcook!

Remove them from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie tray for around 10 minutes before placing them on a wire rack to fully cook.

Once cool, they will have crispy edges and a soft, chewy centre - YUM!

Tips for The Best Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• Use Rolled Oats - you want to use old fashioned rolled oats for this recipe, not instant oats. Rolled oats will give you a hearty, chewy cookie and a deeper flavor than instant oats.
  
• Use Gram Measurements - for the best results, weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale (I recommend this one).
  
• Space Them out - leave plenty of room between the dough balls because they will spread out a lot in the oven and you don't want to end up with one big cookie!

Recipe Variations

These cookies taste amazing just as they are, but there are a few variations you might like to try to keep things interesting:

• Sourdough Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies - instead of raisins, add 200g of your favorite chocolate chips (I love using dark chocolate chips for a little luxurious twist).
  
• Peanut Butter Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies - instead of raisins, add 200g of peanut butter chips to the mixture (you might also love these sourdough peanut butter cookies if you're a peanut butter lover).
  
• Pecan Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - add 100g of chopped pecans along with the raisins for a delicious crunch to these chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.

How To Store + Freeze 

These sourdough oatmeal raisin cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. I find they store best in a tin or glass jar rather than plastic (I find plastic makes them taste stale after just a few days).

They freeze really well. I prefer to freeze the dough balls and then just bake them from frozen when I need them. To make life easier, I snap freeze the dough balls on large cookie trays and then transfer them to ziploc bags for space saving storage. Doing it this way means that the dough balls don't stick together and I can just grab out a handful when I need freshly baked sourdough oatmeal cookies.

You can freeze the baked cookies in a ziploc bag for up to 2 months. They actually thaw really well and don't lose their chewy texture at all. You may lose some of the crispy edges doing it this way. 

Share the sourdough love!