These super soft oatmeal cookies are exactly how they sound. They are ridiculously soft and chewy and have plenty of warm spices and a hint of molasses. A bit of icing on top makes them a perfect childhood favorite.
Everyone loves an oatmeal cookie. Kids love them, adults love them, grumpy grandpas love them. They are great for summer, Christmas, Thanksgiving – I don’t care, they are always in style. And even better, there’s no raisins hiding in these, only the best of the best here.
And because they store for so long, they also make great gifts! So feel free to package them up, and some fancy ribbon, and gift in baskets next holiday!
Ingredients
So what is the secret to super soft cookies? There is more to the science than just underbaking the cookies. Let’s look through the details.
- Old-fashioned oats. I prefer using real oats over quick oats when baking these oatmeal cookies. I just think they have a better flavor and texture in most cases. I will give the oats a quick blitz in the food processor so they are a little finer. When I do a crumb like on these peach bars, I leave the oats whole.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch in cookies helps to keep them tender.
- Baking powder and baking soda. I only have a little bit of each in these. They are not meant to be a big fluffy cookie.
- Melted unsalted butter. Because the butter is melted, we don’t have to A. whip the butter and sugar so we can skip the mixer, and B. we get a more chewy cookie.
- Corn syrup. This is the secret ingredient (shhhh)! Corn syrup keeps things super mega soft for days because it is a sugar that is “inverted” meaning it’s liquid at room temperature.
- Eggs + egg yolks. Adding an extra egg yolk makes these cookies very rich.
- Dark brown sugar. You can also make these with light brown sugar, but the extra molasses flavor in the dark brown sugar is really great with the rest of the spices. If you are looking for a very molasses-forward cookie, try these ginger molasses cookies.
Testing Soft Oatmeal Cookies
I tested these cookies a few times. At first, I had too little flour and too much clove – they were more soggy than soft.
Next, I increased the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg and upper the amount of flour. It was still a bit too much corn syrup and I swapped dark brown sugar for light brown sugar. Finally, I had the best ever soft and chewy oatmeal cookie.
Want Perfectly Round Cookies?
This is my favorite pro-tip for perfectly circular cookies with a nice round edge. Take a cookie cutter a little larger than the baked cookies and as soon as you take the pan out of the oven, swirl the cutter around the outside edges.
You aren’t actually cutting the cookie, just guiding them to be perfectly round. This trick only works on hot cookies! And it’s totally optional.
Making Oatmeal Cookies
These classic oatmeal cookies are fantastically easy because they don’t even need a mixer. Let’s talk through the key elements to know:
Grind the oats. For the best texture, give the whole oats a quick pulse in a food processor or place in a bag and bash with a rolling pin.
Cool the melted butter. Make sure you’re butter is melted but cooled before stirring into the sugar so it doesn’t melt.
Sugar is a liquid. In the baking world, sugar is considered a liquid ingredient because it melts when heated. So when you have your dry ingredients in one bowl, keep the sugar in the other!
Chill. The dough will look more like a batter when you are making it. You need to let the dough chill until firm enough to scoop. Give it at least 2 hours, but 1-2 days is better for the best flavor. Letting the spices meld into the dough for a longer time gives them a chance to hydrate and bloom for a better flavor.
Bake times. It’s hard to tell based on color alone when these are done because they start quite brown, so look at the centers. They should still be just barely soft when taking out of the oven and they will continue to cook on the counter.
Keep the icing thick. The icing should be thick but not dry before putting on the cookies. The icing should perfectly pool when dabbed onto the cookies. Give the icing time to fully harden before stacking or packaging for your next Christmas gift exchange.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can make the dough up to 3 days in advance and leave in the fridge. Or freeze scooped dough on a sheet pan before transferring to a freezer-safe container and storing for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
Nope! Only add the icing if you like. You can also turn these into a cookie sandwich with some buttercream (I would use a cream cheese buttercream like in these red velvet cake recipe).
Once the icing has hardened, store these in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Egg whites can be stored in the freezer until you are ready to use. I store them up and make mocha meringues or angel food cake!
Super Soft Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- Food processor optional
- Standard cookie scoop
Ingredients
- 89 g old-fashioned oats
- 210 g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 170 g unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 213 g dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons corn syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
- 113 g confectioners' sugar sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5-6 teaspoons milk any variety
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse whole oats until about half is ground into a coarse flour, leaving some of the texture for the whole oats. Alternately, you can place the oats in a zip top bag and bash with a rolling pin or pan.89 g old-fashioned oats
- Place oats in a large bowl and whisk in flour, cornstarch, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.210 g all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
- In a second bowl, whisk together cooled melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, eggs and vanilla.170 g unsalted butter, 213 g dark brown sugar, 2 teaspoons corn syrup, 2 large eggs, 1 large egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until fully combined. Dough will be more like a cake batter consistency than a cookie dough. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°F (160°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop cookie dough using a standard cookie scoop (2 1/2 tablespoon), placing cookies approximately 2" apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are set and centers are slightly soft.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.
- Icing. Once cookies are cooled, make icing. Whisk together confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt. Add enough milk to make a thick, but not dry, icing.113 g confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 5-6 teaspoons milk
- Dip or spoon the icing to the top of the cooled cookies. Let icing harden fully before stacking or storing.
Notes
- Scooped, unbaked cookie dough can be frozen. Freeze cookie dough on sheet pan before transferring to a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen adding 1-2 minutes to baking time.
- Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Disclaimer: We test all recipes using the metric weights shown, we cannot guarantee outcomes when switching to US measurements.
