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Oatmeal Raisin CookiesÂ
Soft chewy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe with rolled oats, soft raisins, and a secret ingredient! The famous NYC bakery, Levain Bakery’s copycat oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.Â
Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Levain Bakery is the king of cookies. There is a reason for the constant long line that stretches in front of their New York City bakery. I Â fell in love with their cookies and was determined to create a copycat recipe for their famous oatmeal raisin cookies.
The cookies are Levain Bakery are HUGE. They measure about 6 ounces but you can also make these cookies about 3-4 ounces in size. Large or small, it doesn’t matter, because these are the best oatmeal raisin cookies!
I started with their Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie and it has been my #1 recipe with a 5-star rating. I couldn’t stop there, so I went back to the kitchen to create copycat recipes for their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie and Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. As the comments started to come in, people began to beg for their Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe.
I went back to my kitchen to figure out how to make these extraordinary cookies. Oh boy, I was beyond happy with the results! The texture of these Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies came out perfect with a nice chew to it, a crispy edge, all without being overly sweet. You could almost eat these for breakfast because of their hearty goodness.
Growing up, my Mama’s favorite cookies were always oatmeal raisin cookies. I always tried to convince her that chocolate chips needed to replace the raisins but somehow she always won the battle. She would pull out her big yellow bowl and I would slip on her vintage floral apron.
I was the dedicated “beater licker” and it was always my favorite cookie dough to eat but I would pick out the raisins! To this day, I go crazy over this cookie dough….and now eat the raisins.
The beauty of the Levain Bakery cookie is that it is thick without being cakey and is the only oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that I have that is still soft and fresh 3 days later. It makes them such a soft oatmeal raisin cookie. It is the secret ingredient that keeps it that way! These are the best oatmeal raisin cookies.
SECRET tips and tricks to make these Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies extra special:
- Â Use very cold butter. Now, I am not talking about throwing two cubes of cold butter into the mixer and hoping the butter will incorporate into the sugars. Nope. The key is to cut the butter with a knife into small cubes, making it easier to cream with the sugar. Cream for at least 4 minutes on high until light and fluffy.
- Use a mix of cake flour and all-purpose flour. Why cake flour? Levain Bakery makes thick cookies without tasting like a scone. When you use cake flour, it creates a more TENDER crumb on the cookie which creates a mouth-watering texture. Click HERE to buy cake flour online.
- Another game changer is cornstarch. It also helps to create a soft, tender cookie.
- Bake at high heat. You want to shock these Levain Bakery Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with high heat so they don’t spread too rapidly. It helps them keep their shape and make those crispy edges. Here are my favorite baking sheets — USA Pan Bakeware Half Sheet Pan  or  Nordic Ware Baker’s Half Sheet (2 Pack). I love to use Silpat silicone baking sheets. Click for Silpat Brand and or  Artisan Silicone Baking Mat.     You can find all of my favorite kitchen products HERE.Â
- If you LOVE walnuts, you can add them to the recipe. Levain doesn’t include nuts but I sometimes throw them in to make my mama happy.
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Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cold Butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 cups Flour
- 1/2 cup Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups Raisins
- 1 cup Walnuts chopped (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees.
- In a large bowl, cream together cold butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add cake flour, all-purpose flour, oats, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and stir until combined. Stir in raisins and walnuts (optional).
- Chill dough for 15 minutes.
- Separate dough into large balls and place on lightly colored cookie sheet. Lightly press on top of dough to smooth out. If you have a scale, you can make them anywhere from 4.5 ounces - 6 ounces. You will fit 4-6 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8-12 extra large cookies.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10-15 minutes to set.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Since I created these copycat Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe, my kids keep begging me to make them. I never in a million years would think that my kids would beg for cookies with raisins in them! Miracles do happen. Keep on sharing the LOVE with your friends. Thank you for your amazing support! Find me on INSTAGRAM at @modern_honey
Happy Baking! xo
I think this is the fourth Modern Honey recipe that I’ve made, and once again, it’s a huge winner. I needed something for a Halloween event, so I had to modify slightly. Instead of the cinnamon and raisins, I used Halloween M&M’s and Peanut Butter Chips. OMG! A levain style oatmeal cookie with PB chips and M&M’s…pretty darn awesome. Thanks for continuing to provide us with these tasty dessert recipes.
This is my go-to oatmeal raisin recipe. What do you think about adding dried cranberries and white chocolate for the holodays coming up??
I love these cookies so much! I’m hoping to take some on vaca with the fam. Can I bake and then freeze them?
How much is the calorie?
John these are rich, decadent and delicious cookies. The calories are probably not anything any of us want to know! If you are watching your calories, probably 1/4 of one would be an entire meal! Just enjoy one and give the others to friends!
First off, thank you for all of the hard work and research you’ve done in creating these fabulous recipes. I have two questions regarding the cookie Levain cookie recipes.
1). When adding the dry ingredients to the butter mixture part, is it best to use my kitchenaid mixer on stir mode, or is it best I hand mix it in?
2). What should the internal temperature be of the cookies when done?
Thank you kindly,
Debra
I’m new to the cooking thing. I’m am just retired and found the oatmeal raisin recipe for the Levain cookies. Made a batch and they are to die for delicious.
4 stars only because 9-11 minutes is not nearly enough. I did 10 minutes for 4 oz cookies. Convection oven at 410 degrees and gave the oven 3 minutes to be sure it was really at temp.
Cookies are still uncooked in the middle. Not “gooey warm center”. Raw like I just took it out of the bowl.
If you make 6 oz cookies, give it 15 minutes. 4 oz cooked after 13 minutes.
Thanks a lot for the recipe!!! I had to made some adjusment, because I didn’t have all the ingredients. But your explanations ans tips made me to feel liek a profesional and adjust them… Greetings from Caracas, Venezuela
Thank you for posting this. Granted I had to use it as a framework because times of quarantine (mix of golden raisins and craisins + some chocolate chips) the dough smells amazing and was easy to work with
Followed the directions explicity. They spread out really far in the oven, edges and. bottoms almost burned, and centers/tops completely raw. DAMN. I *love* Levain oatmeal cookies and had great hopes for these. They look NOTHING like the photo or Levain cookies.
Same
I don’t think the author is replying on this thread anymore.. I am at 6700 ft and this recipe doesn’t work. The author is at sea level. I have made these cookies at sea level in St. John and they’v worked out well. I made the cho-chip in Costa Rica (on the beach 🙂 and they didn’t work. I think it depends on the flour and maybe the humidity was different between the two countries. St. John is dryer like Ca so maybe??? I didn’t have a scale so I fluffed the flour with a spoon and then gently spooned it in the measuring cups.