This is probably one of my favorite little recipes of all time. Or at least for oatmeal cookies. I call them Flat and Chewy Small Batch Oatmeal Cookies because my first batches kept coming out flat & chewy. Still they were so good! Originally from a book called Small Batch Baking, the recipe was half of this and made only 2 oatmeal cookies. I like small batches, but 2 wasn't quite enough so I doubled it and have added some notes.
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Flat & Chewy
My latest batches have been thicker, but I'm not ready to change the name of the cookies yet. The fact is with small batch recipes like this, differences in brands of flour, butter, type of oats (organic? Quaker?) way things are measured, your oven. make more of a difference. So if you use HEB brand butter and Gold Medal flour you might get a different cookie than if you'd used Land o' Lakes and King Arthur. But it doesn't matter because if you stick with the measurements the cookies will still be very good. They don’t have any brown sugar, but the sugar and butter caramelize a bit giving these wonderful sweet (and kind of salty) flavor. The edges are crispy, the centers are chewy and while the cookies look delicate, they should stack pretty easily.
If you like small batch recipes like this one, I highly recommend this book. I have owned it for many years and all the recipes are great, though SMALL. Some are so good you'll wish they were large batch.
Tiny Batch Oatmeal Cookies
The recipe card is double this, but tiny batches are popular now so here is the wee little microbatch recipe. This gives you two large cookies. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Mash in the butter until evenly blended, add the egg and vanilla and mix, then stir in the raisins and nuts. Divide in half, shape into rounds and bake at 350F for about 18 to 20 minutes (these are large).
25 grams of all-purpose flour (3 tablespoons
18 grams of oats (3 tablespoons)
36 grams of sugar (3 tablespoons)
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
21 grams unsalted butter, softened (1 ½ tablespoons)
¼ teaspoon vanilla
12 grams lightly beaten egg (1 tablespoon)
Some raisins and toasted chopped pecans (3 tablespoons each)
You can have a lot of fun experimenting with the tiny batch. Add some cardamom. Triple the cinnamon. You can try using less flour for testing how different ones work. I noticed recently my King Arthur flour cookies come out much thicker. For really soft and thick oatmeal cookies, swap 7 grams of sugar for 7 grams of agave syrup.
A Precise Scale
If you are still reading this, you may be a person who loves experimenting. If so, then let me tell you about this scale I got for Christmas. It's the Bomata B613 and measures things down to .1 gram. It is not a requirement for this recipe, but if you're into small batch baking and want a little more precision, it will give you that. It's powered by AAA batteries but can also be plugged in, has a big readout and large platform for setting your mixing bowl on. So far I really like it.
Recipe
Flat Chewy Small Batch Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (50 grams)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats (35 grams)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (42 grams)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (23-25 grams)
- ⅓ cup each – raisins and toasted chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet or toaster oven tray with parchment or leave it ungreased.
- Mix flour, oats, sugar, salt, soda and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl.
- Add the softened butter and mash it in with the dry ingredients, mixing with a spoon or heavy duty scraper until the dry ingredients are moistened and butter is well distributed. Stir in the vanilla and egg. When well mixed, add the raisins and pecans.
- Divide the batter into four pieces and make dough balls or use cookie scoop for a nicer shape. Put the dough balls on the cookie sheet, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for about 18 minutes, then let cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Katrina says
AWESOME recipe! I used these cookies to make oatmeal cream pie. Soooo tasty.
Kim says
Oops lol nevermind I see it now
Kim says
Hi, just wondering what heat to set the oven on before I start?
Leslie says
duhh!~~i was the one who didn't know what that meant on the whole wheat cake, lol!~~ok, from now on, i'm doing that EVERY time i bake, no matter if it says to or not!~~thanks for all of your help!
Anna says
Leslie, it sounds like you used too much flour. Did you by any chance scoop your flour? If so, you probably packed too much into the cup and/or tablespoons. If you try the cookies again, spoon the flour gently into the cup and sweep it across the top. I'm going to add a note about that next to the flour.
If you have a scale, the flour should weigh about 1.7 ounces or 47 grams.
Leslie says
These looked sooooo good to me that I chose them as the very first thing to make in my new oven that arrived today~~they were DELICIOUS, but mine turned out "cake-like"~~tall, thick, and almost like a muffin inside~~soooo good, so I can't really complain, but the part that looked so good to me was the flat crispy part!~~do you know what I could have done wrong?
Anna says
Lisa, wow. Now you have a total of 8 cookies. Oh my! What are you going to DO with ALL THOSE COOKIES.
I didn't try the dough, but I love the cookies. I refrigerated one mound of dough overnight and baked it up today. Today's cookie came out slightly thicker, but still chewy and sweet/salty.
Lisa says
I just made a double batch of these (double your already doubled recipe). I've been excited to try chocolate covered raisins in oatmeal cookies for a long time so I used them in these.
The cookies were good, but the dough was TO DIE FOR. I couldn't stop myself. I'm making these again for sure, only next time I can guarantee that NONE of that dough will make it into the oven. Oh man!
runjess says
Those look like good ice cream sandwich cookies.
Joanna says
Anna, your description of these cookies is so precise and detailed that I can taste them in my mouth right now. Thanks a lot!!!
Carole R. says
Happy Labor Day to the Ginsberg family (Anna, Todd, Fuzz and Lizzie).
Since fall brings cooler weather I can start making all the wonderful recipies I've been saving all summer.
clumbsycookie says
I love the idea od small batches! It's funnt how usually you hald recipes and had to double this one! I love a good oatmeal cookie, I almost did one from your site today, a salty crisp one you did not long ago. But then at last minute I decided to do another thing.
Anna says
I think white tennis shoes are an exception -- at least when it applies to running shoes.
Katrina says
I was just thinking about oatmeal cookies because I just bought a new container of oats and was thinking about trying the Vanishing ones on the box. I like the look of these flat chewy/crispy ones.
Can I still run in my white running shoes? I'm so confused! 😉
Happy Long Weekend!
bakingblonde says
I am baking cookies today as well! What better way to pay myself for all of my labor!! ha ha
VeggieGirl says
Those cookies look like the perfect way to celebrate this day off from work/school/etcetera 🙂