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These incredibly popular quick and easy Gluten-Free Raisin Cookies are made with rolled oats and oat flour for a gloriously chewy bite. Boasting a deep flavour with subtle hints of cinnamon and vanilla, these Oat and Raisin Cookies are a deliciously moreish treat and a huge hit with everyone.
I guarantee these easy gluten-free cookies will not last long on your kitchen counter. This classic combination of chewy oat cookies studded through with juicy raisins is impossible to resist.
This recipe is quick to make and quick to bake so ideal if you have a cookie craving which needs an immediate fix. A completely foolproof gluten-free cookie recipe which is so simple that it’s perfect for baking with children or if you are a novice baker.
Table of contents
- Why you’ll love this recipe
- Watch the video to see how you make it
- What ingredients do we need?
- How to make Gluten-Free Oat & Raisin Cookies
- Top baker’s tips for perfect cookies
- Ingredients you'll need
- Equipment you'll need
- How to store these cookies
- How to freeze
- How to make this recipe vegan
- More gluten-free cookie recipes you’ll love!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Addictively chewy texture with just a slight crisp to the edges.
- Toasty oat flavour with a sweet burst of raisins and a lovely background note of cinnamon and vanilla.
- Easy to source ingredients.
- The cookie dough is made in just one bowl.
- 10 minutes to make the dough.
- 12 minutes in the oven.
- No xanthan gum.
Watch the video to see how you make it
What ingredients do we need?
- Butter. Use unsalted so you can control the salt content and make sure the butter is at room temperature.
- Brown sugar. For flavour and chew.
- Caster sugar. For a little crispness around the edges
- Egg. This recipe was tested with a medium size (60g)
- Vanilla extract. It’s vital that you use extract and not essence for the right full bodied vanilla flavour. I recommend the Neilsen Massey brand.
- Oat flour. Gives the cookies a gorgeous chew and light butterscotch flavour. You can buy ready ground or you can make your own by grinding the same amount of gluten-free rolled oats in the food processor until very fine.
- Tapioca flour. Holds the cookies together and gives them a lovely golden brown colour once baked.
- Salt. This recipe was tested with kosher salt. Using salt punches up all the flavours.
- Bicarbonate of soda. For a light lift.
- Ground cinnamon. Just a pinch for flavour.
- Rolled oats. Make sure they are gluten-free.
- Raisins. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a raisin cookie!
How to make Gluten-Free Oat & Raisin Cookies
For full recipe instructions go to the recipe card at the end of this post.
Mix. Place the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer. Add the oat flour, tapioca starch and beat together. Then mix in the oats and finally the raisins.
Scoop. Portion the cookie dough into 12 round balls and place on 2 baking sheets with lots of space in between.
Bake for 12 minutes. Rest on the baking tray for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Top baker’s tips for perfect cookies
- Make sure your butter is at room temperature so it can cream smoothly together with the sugar.
- If your brown sugar is a bit hard and lumpy then moisture might have got into your bag. You can fix by whizzing the sugar up in the food processor until it is light and sandy again.
- Use a trigger release ice cream scoop for the uniform sized cookies which made it so clean and easy to get onto the baking tray.
- Divide the cookies between 2 baking trays with plenty of room between each cookie. If you only have one baking tray then just bake them in 2 batches. The cookie dough is fine to rest on the kitchen counter whilst the first batch is baking. Just make sure the tray has cooled in between batches.
- This recipe takes 12 minutes exactly but do check after 10 minutes just in case your oven isn’t calibrated correctly. There is nothing more disappointing than over baked cookies.
- If you like a crisper cookie edge than bake for an extra 2 minutes.
- Leave the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes before removing them with a flipper to give them a chance to set.
- I know you can’t resist – these Gluten-Free Raisin Cookies are so delicious to eat whilst warm but they do firm up as they cool so it’s worth it if you can wait for the perfect texture.
- For a final touch sprinkle a little bit of extra salt on top.
Ingredients you'll need
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Equipment you'll need
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How to store these cookies
They will keep well for up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container. I prefer a tin which is a dry environment. Then store your container in a cool dark place. After 3 days they begin to taste a little stale.
How to freeze
You can freeze the cookie dough prior to baking. Scoop the dough up into 12 rounds using a trigger release ice cream scoop. Then place the cookie dough balls on a baking tray in a single layer and place into the freezer. After about 6-8 hours transfer the frozen cookie dough balls to a ziplock bag, squeezing as much air out as possible to avoid freezer burn. The cookie dough will keep well for up to 2 months.
How to bake from frozen
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C / 150°C fan assisted oven / gas mark 3 (which is slightly lower than the original recipe).
Place your cookie dough on the lined baking trays as per the original recipe. Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes until the cookies are slightly golden at the edges.
How to make this recipe vegan
There are just a couple of swaps you need to make vegan oat and raisin cookies:
- Butter. Swap for a plant based butter.
- Egg. Use a flax egg instead. To make the flax egg whisk together 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons room temperature water. Rest for 5 minutes until the mixture has turned thick and gel like. Mix into the ingredients in the same way as the regular egg.
More gluten-free cookie recipes you’ll love!
- Chocolate Dipped Oat Peanut Butter Cookies
- Spiced Pumpkin Date Cookies
- Gluten-Free Ginger Nut Biscuits
- Easy Flourless Salted Chocolate Chip Cashew Cookies
- Gluten-Free Shortbread
I urge you to give these Gluten-Free Oat & Raisin Cookies a try. If you do then please leave a comment below and give the recipe a rating which helps others find the recipe on Google. If you then go on to use this recipe as a launch pad for your own culinary creation then I’d also love it if you’d share it and tag me on Instagram. It is so lovely for me to see your versions and variations of my recipes.
Gluten-Free Oat & Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 140 g unsalted butter - room temperature
- 90 g soft light brown sugar
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 egg - medium
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 120 g gluten-free oat flour
- 80 g tapioca starch
- 70 g gluten-free rolled oats
- 110 g raisins
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 190°C / 170°C fan assisted oven / gas mark 5.
- Place the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.
- Sift the oat flour and tapioca starch together and add to the mixing bowl.
- Beat these ingredients together to create the cookie dough.
- Add the rolled oats then mix in until completely combined.
- Stir in the raisins until they are evenly dispersed throughout the cookie dough. The dough should be moderately firm with all the ingredients well mixed together.
- Scoop out 12 balls of cookie dough using a trigger release ice cream / cookie scoop and place on 2 baking trays lined with baking parchment. Give the cookies plenty of room between each one.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove the baking trays from the oven and leave the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the trays before transferring to cooling racks to finish cooling completely.
These turned out really lovely! 🙂 I had a pack of choc chip in the cupboard so used those instead of the raisins.
In the USA, it was Mother's Day today. I am new to Gluten and Dairy free. I tried these today. I see now that the temp in the post was different than the printed recipe. I baked at 355 degrees F. which is approx 180 C, in a convection oven. They seemed raw at the 12 min mark. I baked them 4 more minutes to allow them to slightly brown on top. The taste is great. The cookie is just a bit crumbly and dry. I also used Country Crock plant butter replacement because I have to be dairy free in addition to gluten free. Maybe the butter change added to the dryness. I will try again, maybe adding more fat next time or maybe use coconut oil instead. One stick (8 oz) of Country Crock plant "butter" was only 107 grams. Thank you for offering dairy-free options.
Hi Patti, I'll check those temps - thank you! I'm happy you liked the recipe.
Hi Patti, I think you might have been looking at the How to Bake From Frozen section of the post which has different cooking times. I wonder if the reason you might have dry cookies is that they were slightly overbaked. When you remove them from the oven at the 12 minute mark they might look underbaked but they firm up on cooling and this creates the chewy texture.