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Dad’s Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies -Right Off the Quaker Oatmeal Package

5 from 33 votes
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My Dad’s Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are straight from the Quaker Oatmeal package. He has a couple of his own tweaks, of course. These are the cookies that my Dad is famous for making down in Phoenix with all their snowbird friends. He takes them to every get-together they attend. Down there however, he can get these amazingly large raisins from Trader Joe’s ( we are talking huge!) and that makes all the difference in the world. If anyone has a lead on where I can get gigantic raisins (have you seen them at Bulk Barn maybe?) I would love to know! Huge raisins are the only way to go in oatmeal raisin cookies.

Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in Black Cooling Rack
Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I honestly don’t think that there is a better version of oatmeal cookies than the vanishing oatmeal cookie recipe. I’m not sure how long it’s been around but I would guess at least 60 years? It could be more, there are ads from 1905 for the oatmeal itself so that recipe could have come about any time after that! What I do know is that these are the cookies that I grew up with.

Close up of Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in Black Cooling Rack

Somehow no one makes them better than my Dad does either. I made this at his house but they aren’t as good as the ones he makes. He has the knack of sightly under baking them just perfectly so that they are exactly the right amount of chewy. Whatever you do, don’t over bake them! I know that you can make crispy oatmeal raisin cookies but they are so much better when they are soft and chewy.

Close up of Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in Black Cooling Rack

Let me be perfectly clear: these were literally vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies. They come by the name honestly, they vanish within the day. Why is it that we can eat these like they are going out of style but could never do that with chocolate chip cookies? It must be because they aren’t that sweet and really, isn’t oatmeal breakfast after all?

Top down shot of Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

So who else ate these growing up? Is there really any other oatmeal raisin cookie than the Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal One? Well…. yes. My dad’s version below. He’s amped it up in a few areas and these are seriously the BEST ever. These are all I make anymore. I know I’m a recipe developer and all but man, you can’t beat my Dad’s version of these classic cookies!

Happy baking! I have written the original recipe with my Dad’s additions beside the ingredients as noted.

Love you more than cookies,

Karlynn

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Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies -Right Off the Quaker Oatmeal Package! These are the BEST oatmeal cookies ever!
5 from 33 votes
Close up of Quaker Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in Black Cooling Rack
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
10 minutes
Course
Dessert
Cuisine
American
Servings
24
Calories
183
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 cup butter plus 2 tablespoons butter softened
  • 3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla Dad uses 2
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Dad uses 3!
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
  • 3 cups large flake oats
  • 1 cups raisins Dad uses 1 1/2 cups

Instructions
 

  • Heat the oven to 350°F.
  • In large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy. Add in the eggs and vanilla then beat until fully incorporated.
  • Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Add into the butter mixture, mixing in completely.
  • Add in the oats and raisins and stir in by hand.
  • Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown.
  • Cool the cookies for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheets; then remove to wire rack. If you move them too soon they will fall apart!
  • Cool them completely. Store tightly covered if they last that long ( they won't.)

Nutrition Information

Calories: 183kcal, Carbohydrates: 28g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 161mg, Potassium: 110mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 195IU, Vitamin C: 0.3mg, Calcium: 19mg, Iron: 1.1mg

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

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Reader Interactions

Comments & Recipe Tips Share a tip or comment!

  1. Genevieve Broadway says

    Turned out sooo good! I made this recipe just as written, except for the sugars. I swapped brown sugar for coconut palm sugar and white sugar for monk/erythritol. Thanks to your dad’s little extras, these were so yummy. It turns out, a 9 mins bake is the right amount of chewyness for me. I made a double batch and added a pecan on the tops of some before baking. I love this recipe. Thanks to you and your Dad for sharing.

  2. Chris says

    I just made the original version and then found this, which has your Dad’s modifications. Had I made them with your Dad’s modifications they would have been even better. . I also added some nutmeg. I came across some older Quaker versions (1955) and then they used shortening (instead of butter). I also used quick STEEL cut oats. I was curious how they would turn out compared to other kinds of oats. One cup of quaker oats is 80 gms however 1 cup of the steel cut oats I was using weighed 130 gm….so I just went by grams and used 240 gms of steel cut (as if they were quaker). They turned out very well – but would have been nicer with more raisins and the extra cinnamon5 stars

  3. Nelsene Layden says

    Just a thought to help you with that Trader Joe’s raisen fix … They sell 1 # of the goldens for $12.00 + . You may be able to order the regular dark raisens for less, but I’ll tell you that I have had to make these cookies without raisens at all and they still rock.

  4. Jeanne Paderofsky says

    I add 2 tab of wheat germ. Adds a bit of fiber.

  5. Elizabeth says

    Not sure what happened but when I made these, they came out super flat and looked like lace cookies. I thought I just had dough that was too warn so I put the second pan in the refrigerator to ensure they were chilled prior to baking. Same result. Great taste, but awful appearance. Anyone have any suggestions?

    • Kelly says

      You might not have had enough flour, Sally’s baking addiction has an article about cookie issues and she suggested that for cookies that spread too much.

  6. sierramohair@yahoo.com says

    Made these cookies for my family and they LOVED it. They were impressed and I was happy that it turned out perfect.5 stars

  7. Susan says

    Oatmeal raisin cookies are my hubby’s favourite ever and he said these are the best ever by far. I plumped golden raisins (boiled water for four minutes in microwave then poured over raisins and let them sit for 20 minutes then drained and lightly pat dry) the first time I made them but not the second and it didn’t seem to make a difference. Karlie, can you suggest why my cookies didn’t spread much or ‘flatten’ like yours look in the picture? Mine pretty much held the shape they had on the cookie sheet before they went in the oven. They still looked great and tasted fantastic!

  8. Lateshea Pearson says

    This was my favorite cookie to bake when I was a kid! One of my tweaks was pecans and cane syrup. It solidified the oatmeal raisin cookie as the King of Cookies! For me at least.?5 stars

  9. Julie says

    Hi, I love these and printed it out this morning because I have these wonderful organic Thompson raisins. I buy them in a round carton at a large store called Woodmans. This brand has both white and purple raisins, both are delicious, I prefer the purple ones.

    • Katherine Swidan says

      Absolutely the best oatmeal raisin cookie EVER!5 stars

  10. Sage says

    A HEALTHIER OPTION:
    My family has been using this recipe for 60 years.
    We use ALMOND FLOUR
    GOLDEN RAISINS (best for baking)
    CHOPPED WALNUTS
    HONEY…NOT WHITE SUGAR
    RAW BROWN SUGAR.5 stars

  11. Margo Haynes says

    Thank you Marti Schelly for sharing such a great Tip! It is definitely the easiest way to plump them up! I too am glad that Quaker continues to place this recipe in their box. You & your family be sure to have a blessed Thanksgiving this year!

  12. Margo Haynes says

    This is my favorite recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies, I googled this recipe for your Dad’s Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe. It has been on the Old Fashioned Quaker Oats boxes as of 2015, so it has been out there for our enjoyment for 20 years! The recipe on the box yields 4 dozen cookies & it makes no difference whether you use Old Fashioned Oats or Quick Oats as long as the oats are uncooked. Here is the link where I found all of this information & it is a little bit more than halfway down the page.
    blog.thenibble.com/2015/11/21/recipe-vanishing-oatmeal-raisin-cookies-from-quaker-oats/ I collect cookbooks, though I lost more than a few in a flood one year. Somewhere, years ago, I found this spice mixture in a tiny frayed 50 page brown paper cookbook: 1 1/2 tsps. Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ground Ginger, 1/4 tsp. ground Cloves & 1/4 tsp. ground Nutmeg. I can’t remember if it was for a spice cake or pancakes or mashed sweet potatoes. However, more than once, I’ve mashed up about 5 or 6 baked sweet potatoes, mashed them down a bit & in the depression added about a stick butter to melt & sprinkled a portion of the spices (I don’t add all of the spices at once) into the melted butter & added about 1 cup of either chopped pecans or chopped walnuts mixed into the potatoes. I very seldom have to add a tiny bit of brown sugar to the potatoes because they seem to be sweet enough with the tiny miniature marshmallows lightly browned on top of the sweet potatoes. The potatoes need to be taste tested before & after adding the spice mixture because the amount of the spices used depend on the size of the potatoes & just how much mashed potatoes they made in that bowl.5 stars

  13. Marti Schelly says

    I learned from a co-worker many years ago that “plumping” the raisins keeps the cookies fresh and moist longe and tastes amazing. Plump by placing raisins in steamer basket over boiling water for maybe 5 minutes before adding tp copkie dough. So glad Quaker continues to place this recipe on their box.

  14. Laf says

    Made dads recipe exactly as it was printed with extra vanilla, cinnamon and raisins… so deliciously perfect!5 stars

  15. B.Scott says

    Can these be frozen if so do I thaw in the refrigerator?5 stars

  16. Gia says

    Thinking of my dad & so making these today…miss him so much- he made the best cookies too! Can’t wait to try these…❤️5 stars

  17. Dale Richardson says

    I have a lid off an old Quaker Oats container that has the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe. It originally called for 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar firmly packed, and 1 teaspoon salt. The rest of the ingredients are the same. Somewhere along the line they adjusted the butter and brown sugar amounts. I make mine with these specs. And be sure to using the long cooking oats not the quick cooking kind.5 stars

  18. Wilf Urbanoski says

    Found Superstore has PC medium huge organic raisins. Winco and Sprouts have them in bulk

    • Anna says

      Just made these, they are amazing! I used all purpose all purpose gluten free flour, substituted 1egg with a banana and added dark chocolate chips. Definitely will make again.5 stars

  19. Lisa Langston. says

    I love your dad!!!!!!! Do you think he will adopt me!!!!!!!

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