There's no better feeling than a cosy kitchen with a plate of Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies sitting all homely-looking on the kitchen table. With just a few pantry ingredients and a quick bake in the oven, you'll soon have a kitchen filled with the delicious aromas of baked cookies and a pile of oatmeal cookies perfect for dunking in a nice cup of tea, coffee, or milk. These oatmeal cookies have crispy edges but irresistibly soft and chewy centres although, if preferred, a few extra minutes in the oven will bake a crunchier cookie or biscuit.
We are a plant-based family, so we use vegan-friendly ingredients, ensuring all our cookies are vegan. Of course, you can use your usual ingredients, and the cookies will still bake up fine.
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Origin of oatmeal cookies
Oatmeal cookies, dating back to the 1700s-1800s, are believed to have evolved from the savory Scottish oatcakes, which have been a staple since at least the 1300s. These oatcakes were traditionally made from oats and water and sometimes salt, serving as a hardy, durable food for Scottish soldiers.
The sweet, modern version of oatmeal cookies that we know today began to take shape with the addition of sugar and spices. Fannie Merritt Farmer's book, "The Boston Cooking School Cookbook" (1896), contains the first printed recipe for oatmeal cookies. During this time oatmeal cookies were thought of as a healthy option.
Farmer's recipe for oatmeal cookies contained - 1 egg, a quarter cup of sugar, a quarter cup of thin cream, a quarter cup of milk, a half cup of fine oatmeal, 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and one teaspoon of salt. If interested you can see the recipe for yourself over on The Internet Archive.
Quaker Oats, started manufacturing rolled oats in the late 1800s, and they quickly saw the potential of promoting oatmeal cookies so by the early 1900s, Quaker oats began including recipes for oatmeal cookies on their rolled oats, oatmeal or old-fashioned oat packages which quickly turned oatmeal cookies into firm family favourites.
Oatmeal cookie recipes with various additions soon sprang up such as peanut butter oatmeal cookies, oatmeal cinnamon cookies, drizzled oatmeal cookies which featured a water icing topping, cherry oatmeal cookies, and chocolate oatmeal cookies. Another very popular variation was the oatmeal raisin cookie.
Ingredients
The ingredients you will need for this old-fashioned oatmeal cookie recipe are - plain flour [all-purpose flour], bicarbonate of soda, rolled oats, margarine, golden syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. A pinch of salt is an optional extra that you can add if you like.
How To Prepare
These cookies are prepared with ordinary rolled oats, also known as old-fashioned oats in the U.S., which are the same variety used to make the tasty Scottish breakfast of porridge oats.
Step 1: Place the rolled oats and flour into a mixing bowl.
Step 2: Add the margarine, brown sugar and golden syrup to a small saucepan.
Step 3: Gently heat and stir until the mixture is smoothly combined.
Step 4: Stir the vanilla through and sprinkle in the bicarbonate of soda.
Step 5: Whisk with a fork until combined.
Step 6: Pour the melted ingredients into the oats and flour.
Step 7: Give everything a good mix.
Step 8: Using a teaspoon scoop up heaped measures of cookie dough.
Step 9: Using the palms of your hands quickly roll the cookie mixture into balls and place on a baking sheet with room to spread during baking.
Step 10: Bake for 10-12 minutes until uniformly golden. Longer baking will make the cookies more crisp and less baking will result in a softer cookie.
Recipe Notes
Storing
Store cookies in a cool, dry area within a biscuit/cookie or cake jar or tin, or a covered food container. If storing within a plastic food container wrap the cookies in a layer of kitchen foil or greaseproof paper, as this will help keep them fresher for longer.
Cookies will be fine for about 5-7 days if stored properly.
Freezing
Oatmeal cookies can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 3 months. Once wrapped with a food and freezer wrap, place in a covered container or food bag. Placing a small piece of greaseproof paper between each cookie will help prevent cookies freezing together, and removing one or two frozen cookies will be much easier.
FAQ'S
Ordinary rolled oats are used for these oatmeal cookies. Rolled oats are also known as old-fashioned oats or Scottish oats.
Any kind of margarine that is suitable for baking and cooking is fine for this recipe. It is best not to use low-fat or diet margarine or baking spreads/blocks as these tend to contain too much liquid which could affect the texture of the cookies. We like to use Stork baking spread or block, or Flora dairy-free, or Vitalite margarine.
Golden syrup does provide a traditional flavour for these cookies but you can try switching it out for corn syrup, light molasses, agave syrup, rice syrup, date syrup, or maple syrup.
Honey will also work although if you are vegan or plant-based this is generally not an option, however there are now vegan honey alternatives available.
Do keep in mind that a substitute will have a different flavour and possibly result in a different texture but the cookies will still taste delicious.
As our oatmeal cookies are the ones intended to spread out in the oven we have a few troubleshooting tips to share to help you bake the best cookies:
1. Bicarbonate of soda also known as baking soda is a key ingredient in ensuring that cookies spread so do make sure your baking soda is fresh, as old baking soda may not work too well and result in cookies that do not spread that great.
2.The temperature of your margarine or baking fat can greatly affect how your cookies spread. For the best cookies, use room temperature margarine as if it’s too cold, the dough may take longer to melt and spread.
3. If your cookie dough is too dry (perhaps from too much flour), it won’t spread as much as the recipe intends so make sure your dough is moist enough - check the recipe for guidance on how your cookie dough should feel. If it's too stiff, add a small amount of liquid (like a teaspoon of milk or water) until you reach the desired consistency.
4. If your oven temperature is too low, the cookies won’t be able to spread much before they set so make sure your oven is properly preheated to the temperature stated in the recipe. Sometimes ovens can be off calibration, so if you suspect your oven is not heating properly use an oven thermometer as this can help verify your ovens actual temperatures.
5. Give each cookie dough ball plenty of room to spread on the baking sheet as overcrowding can limit their ability to spread - although if you have given the cookies plenty of room and they do end up touching each other during baking it's not a huge deal as you can just use a sharp knife to mark each cookies perimeter.
6. If you find your cookies are spreading too much for your liking then you can try chilling the dough for 30 minutes before baking as this can help control the spread.
7. It's always worth remembering that when baking cookies you may not always get consistent results even if you have used the same recipe repeatedly with previous success.
So much science goes into preparing cookies and each batch can be affected by various factors such as - oven temperatures, oven types, different baking trays, whether you used parchment paper or greased the baking tray with margarine or dusted with flour, the current humidity, the current temperature, ingredients such as recipe changes for margarines, baking spreads or even the changes in the moisture content of butters, using old bicarbonate of soda [baking soda], using old flour, the type of sugar, malfunctioning baking scales that perhaps need their batteries changed, measuring in cups which is less accurate, and the list goes on!!!
Thankfully even cookie baking failures still generally taste good enough to eat or at least to repurpose the crumbs into a different dessert!
These oatmeal cookies are similar to Subway oatmeal cookies, supermarket fresh bakery oatmeal cookies, and the old-fashioned cookies that you may have fond memories of grandma baking...or grandad of course!
But the best thing about this oatmeal cookie recipe is that they can be easily prepared with vegan-friendly margarine and as egg-free yet they are so utterly delicious and difficult to stop at just one. Of course you can use your usual baking margarine or fat instead.
Top cookie making tips
- When mixing the melted ingredients of margarine, golden syrup, and brown sugar with the dry ingredients, make sure to mix thoroughly as this helps prevent dry spots and ensures that each cookie bakes evenly. However, to avoid over-mixing it's best to mix by hand with a mixing spoon.
- For even baking and uniformity in texture and appearance, use a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop to measure out the dough. This ensures that all your cookies are the same size and will bake at the same rate. Remember to dust your hands with flour when rolling the dough into balls to prevent sticking.
- Oatmeal cookies can go from perfectly baked to overdone quickly, so it’s important to keep an eye on them, especially towards the end of baking time. If using a fan oven, check the cookies a few minutes early, as they tend to bake faster. Baking time can vary slightly based on the size of your cookies and your specific oven, so adjust accordingly for that perfect chewy or crispy finish. However, if your cookies do over bake they will still be tasty and will be perfect for dunking in a nice cup of tea or coffee.
- We always recommend using a kitchen scale to measure baking ingredients as cup measurements make differ depending on who is scooping the flour, and tablespoon measurements may also differ as one person may use a heaped spoon and another may use a knife to make level spoonfuls. A scale takes the guess work away and ensures better success!
More egg-free and dairy-free cookie/biscuit recipes - with oats
All our baking recipes are prepared with vegan-friendly ingredients so are egg-free and dairy-free yet they taste just as good as the originals as we only use everyday pantry ingredients. As we are a Scottish family we love oats so baking with oats is a frequent occurrence in our kitchen.
A few of our family favourites are these Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and these Traditional Parkin Biscuits which are both perfect with a nice cup of tea.
And for a few Scottish teatime staples these Traditional Scottish Flapjacks and this flapjack variation Traditional Chocolate Flapjacks are perfect for filling up the biscuit or cake tin with budget-friendly home-baking.
***please note: for US measurements click the 'US customary button' within the recipe and the measurements will switch to tablespoons, cups, and ounces.***
📖 Recipe
Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- mixing spoon
- Small saucepan
- cutlery fork
- teaspoon
- Baking trays lined with parchment paper
- cooling rack
Ingredients
- 140 grams rolled oats [or old-fashioned oats or Scottish oats]
- 115 grams plain flour [all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting hands]
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup [about 40 grams syrup]
- 115 grams margarine [we use Stork baking spread]
- 115 grams soft brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda [baking soda]
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 Fan/ 180C/ 356 Fahrenheit/ Gas 4.
- Line the baking trays with parchment paper.
- Place the flour and oats into a mixing bowl.140 grams rolled oats, 115 grams plain flour
- Add the margarine, golden syrup, and brown sugar to a saucepan. Over a low heat, melt everything and stir together until smooth. [don't allow to boil]Remove from the heat.115 grams margarine, 115 grams soft brown sugar, 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- Stir through the vanilla.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the bicarbonate of soda and whisk well with a fork to combine.Pour into the mixing bowl and stir well to combine.¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- Scoop up heaped teaspoons of cookie mixture and with the palms of your hands dusted well with flour, form the dough into a ball shape.
- Place the cookie balls onto the baking trays. Leave a space for each cookie to spread. Although it is fine if some of the cookies spread out and touch each other a little.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.Less baking time will result in a crispy edge cookie with a chewy soft inside, while longer baking time will result in a crispy crunchier cookie.
- [If your cookies are on several trays and you can't bake them all at once, the cookies will be fine waiting on the countertop until ready to be baked.]
- Cookies are ready when they are mostly uniformly golden [if there is a paler patch in the middle, bake for a few seconds longer but not too long as the cookies are quick to bake]. Cookies will still feel soft to the touch when removed from the oven but will firm up during cooling.
- If baking with a fan oven which tends to bake quicker, check your cookies after 8-9 minutes and see how they are going.
- We used an electric oven and the cookies were ready after 10-11 minutes. Any longer and the cookies would have become more crunchy but perfect for dunking in hot tea.
- Allow the cookies to sit on the baking trays for at least 10-15 minutes, until they are firm enough to be removed with a spatula to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Nutritional data is for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
- Store cookies in a cool, dry area within a cookie/biscuit jar or tin, cake tin or food container, etc., for 5 days or possibly a few days longer.
- Wrapping the cookies with kitchen foil can help preserve their freshness for longer especially if storing within a plastic tub.
- Oatmeal cookies can be frozen, well wrapped, and placed into a freezer bag or container for up to 3 months. Place a small piece of parchment paper between each cookie so that one or two cookies can be easily removed from freezer at a time.
- Troubleshooting:
- If your cookie dough is too sticky to pick up then simply dust your hands with flour before rolling each cookie into a ball. The cookie dough will be loose but will still mostly hold its shape when placed onto the baking tray.
- If thicker cookies are preferred then add an extra 30-40grams/1- 1 ½ oz of flour to the mix.
- While measuring the golden syrup, dip the tablespoon measurer into boiling water between each scoop as this allows the syrup to drip easily off the boiling hot spoon.
- For more top cookie making tips and troubleshooting advice then do have a look at our FAQ section above this recipe.
Nutrition
Comments
Prepared our Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies recipe? We would love to know how you got on with the recipe so do drop us a comment below and click the star ratings. All feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks so much! All the best, Jacq x
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