There are oatmeal cookies, and then there are rum raisin oatmeal cookies. Is there really any question? Try this warm and wonderful cookie recipe!
Why we love this recipe
My dad and I have a lot in common. We are both Mets fans, we are both Hoyas, and we both love a good Jimmy Buffett song.
We like a nice glass of red wine now and again, and we both think my mom’s macaroni and cheese is one of the best-tasting things on the planet. So you’d think we would be partners in dessert preferences, but here’s where we diverge.
I am a chocolate lover through and through, but my dad? Not so much.
He’ll have some if it’s there, but if you want to win his heart with dessert, he’s a gingerbread, oatmeal cookie, rum raisin ice cream kind of guy.
And since I love him more than words can say, I recently decide to put a few of his favorite things together, and that’s how I ended up with a jar full of rum raisin oatmeal cookies.
The cookie part is pretty much the soft, chewy oatmeal cookie that we all know and love. It’s the raisins that will make you sit up and take notice.
Ingredients you need for this recipe
- Raisins
- Rum: The real thing. Rum extract won’t do it for the raisins.
- Butter: I use salted butter but unsalted is also okay.
- White Sugar
- Brown Sugar: Light or dark will both work.
- Eggs: I use extra large eggs for this recipe
- Vanilla
- Flour: Regular all purpose flour
- Baking Soda
- Cinnamon
- Rolled Oats: Not instant and definitely not steel cut – just good old regular rolled oats.
Here’s how you make rum raisin oatmeal cookies!
(Scroll down for the handy complete printable recipe with nutrition info!)
STEP 1: Put raisins in a small bowl and pour rum over them. Let them soak for an hour or two, then drain the rum (and what you do with the drained rum is entirely up to you!) I soaked mine for about 3 hours in a nice bath of rum until they were soft and, well, rum-infused. The Southern husband kindly tested a few of them along the way to make sure they were coming out the right way. He’s helpful that way.
STEP 2: Preheat oven to 350.
STEP 3: Beat the butter together with both white and brown until things are nice and creamy, about two minutes. Add a couple of eggs and some vanilla and beat until combined.
STEP 4: Put some flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir gently with a whisk until those ingredients are well combined.
STEP 5: Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture with mixer on low speed (thereby avoiding a cloud of flour spreading over your kitchen counter). Add in some rolled oats and those raisins.
STEP 5: Put tablespoons of cookie dough on A cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
STEP 7: Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then put on rack to finish cooling. Make sure to eat one while they are still warm! Or two.
Soft, delicious oatmeal cookies with just a hint of naughtiness baked in.
Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies FAQ
You can…these will then turn into fabulous traditional oatmeal raisin cookies.
Rolled oats are also called “old-fashioned oats,” and they are the most common kind. They have been steamed and flattened out. You want to use regular rolled oats and not the instant kind, because they have the best type of texture for this cookie. Want to know more about the different kinds of oats? Here’s a great run-down from The Kitchn.
Pop your question in the comments section and I will answer pronto!
Rum raisin ice cream, you can just move on over…there’s a new kid in town.
Because nothing’s too good for my dad!
Other cookie recipes we love
 This easy recipe for frosted sugar cookie squares bakes up soft and luscious treats that can be easily decorated for any celebration or holiday! |
 This easy recipe for no bake chocolate haystack cookies is a great project to make with the kiddos! |
 Hermit cookies may be shy, but this sweet little raisin and spice cookie definitely deserves its place among your favorite treats! |
Want to round out your meal? This recipe pairs well with...
Could you leave us a review?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section. Your thoughts and advice will help both us and your fellow readers. 🥰
Print
Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes- Cook Time: 48 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 3 minutes
- Yield: About 40 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Method:
Cuisine:
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
There are oatmeal cookies, and then there are rum raisin oatmeal cookies. Is there really any question? Try this warm and wonderful cookie recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups raisins
- 1/2 cup rum
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 cups rolled oats (not steel cut)
Instructions
- Put raisins in a small bowl and pour rum over them. Let them soak for an hour or two, then drain the rum (and what you do with the drained rum is entirely up to you!)
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Beat the butter together with both sugars until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Put flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl and stir gently with a whisk until well combined.
- Add flour to butter mixture with mixer on low speed. Add in oats and raisins.
- Put tablespoons of cookie dough on cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then put on rack to finish cooling. Make sure to eat one while they are still warm! Or two.
Notes
Oats: Make sure you use regular rolled oats, not the instant or steel-cut kind
Rum: Any kind you have on hand will work just fine!
Equipment We Used For This Recipe
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Buy Now →
Cookies = Yum!
Picture = Delightful!
Dads = Priceless :-)
Yes! I probably should have saved this for father’s day, but I couldn’t resist. :)
Aww love how this post is kind of a tribute to your dad!
Also, just a thought…but using these cookies to sandwich some rum raisin ice cream. YES.
OMG…brilliant. (Of course, coming from you!)
I love how you tied in your Dad to these cookies. It’s always interesting to read how much of a role food plays in our memories. I love your cookies too. They turned out so beautiful.
That is so true! My favorite food memory is my grandma’s molasses cookies…they take me right back to her kitchen!
Great picture! These cookies look drool-worthy!
Aw, thanks! They were pretty scrumptious. :)
Aw that’s a wonderful photo :) these cookies sound perfect!
One of my favorite pictures of all time. :)
As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make them in memory of my own Dad, who LOVED rum raisin ice cream. These cookies are so delicious! I will always soak the raisins in rum from now on… A sophisticated variation of an old favorite. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad! Hurray for our dads…they deserve all the cookies in the world. :)
Very good cookies
Thanks Tom! There’s nothing like the taste of rum raisin. :)
This recipe makes the best cookie dough, if you like eating it raw! The cookies are moist and sweet. I found that underbaking them yielded the most rummy taste.
The dough was extra soft, so I added an extra handful of oatmeal after the first sheet of cookies came out of the oven.
Unfortunately, the underbaked cookies, as good as they tasted, weren’t really presentation quality (for a party or gift). I ended up baking them to a toasty brown, and they lost the rum flavor. And after a day even the underbaked cookies lost their rumminess.
Fun to try; thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi Debbie! Thanks for all this great feedback (and hurray for cookie dough!). Maybe add a teaspoonful of rum extract along with the real rum next time to max out that rum flavor? These were my dad’s favorite cookie, and we lost him 2 years ago on this very day, so it means so much to me that you tried this recipe. xo!
Kate, thanks for the suggestion, I’ll give rum extract a try! Sorry to hear about the loss of your dad. I’ll raise a cookie to him. :)
Thanks Debbie – xo!
Could u use rum extract instead?
You can – just don’t soak the raisins and substitute the rum extract for the vanilla.
These Are Delicious!!! I soaked The raisins (White) in Vanilla Rum for 2 hours. I also put in 2 tsp of Vanilla, and 1 1/2 c of brown sugar. I threw in 1 C. Milk Chocolate Chips. Amazing!
★★★★★
Hi Jennifer – I just love your variations on this cookie recipe – I’m going to have to give those a try next time I make them. Happy summer! :)
I assume you’re using regular oats and not quick oats? I’m planning to give these a try!
Hi Susan! Yep, regular old-fashioned rolled oats, not the quick ones. The quick ones are quick because they are chopped finer, and I like the consistency of the regular rolled oats. Happy cooking baking! :)
I’ve made this recipe a couple of times in my rotation of cookies. I use a run that has a strong banana flavor and it makes these cookies delectable.
A real pleaser with the family.
★★★★★
I’m so glad to hear this! And I think it’s just about time for me to bake up another batch here in my kitchen. :)
Delicious! I added ginger powder and used half nutmeg, half cinnamon. Also added toasted pecans. The raisins were very plump and juicy, although the rum was barely noticeable. I did soak them in the fridge for a couple days because my baking plan changed, that is likely why.
★★★★★
Andrew! I love your additions; :) I think you are right about the rum – and if you want to increase the rum flavor even more, you can add a little rum extract to the dough. Yum!
Hi after you drain the rum of the raisins can you add the rum to the cookie dough?
Hi Neisha! Honestly I wouldn’t – it will make the dough a little too soft. But you can pour it into a pretty glass and have it as a cocktail! :) :)
Good Morning Kate,
I actually made the cookies last night, I went a little crazy with the bourbon lol because the cookie was soggy.
Thank you for responding back I’ll be sure to try out different pastries on your blog.
Great cookie recipe. I’ve made it several times now and ALWAYS a hit with the wife and kids. I just tried a different rum and that also really changed the flavors.
★★★★★
I’m so glad it’s a hit – and yes, different kinds of rum is a fun way to change up the flavor! Happy baking. :)
Very good, soft cookie. I like to chop my raisins so I did! 1st batch out of the oven spread too much so as mentioned I added more flour and they were great. I did also add 1/2 tsp salt as I can’t make cookies without. Made for our friend who turned 40 at his request for something rum raisin, he LOVED them. Thank you for the recipe
★★★★
Thanks Annie! These are a family fave in our house, so I’m so happy to hear that your friend loved them – what a great birthday friend you are! :)
My husband’s fave-baked in a Traeger and served warm with cold milk. love!
★★★★★
The perfect way to serve them up! Happy Friday, Mary! :)
Can you freeze the dough for this recipe? I’d like to make these for a friend. He is single and I’d like to bake just a few but then portion out cookies to freeze so he can have a fresh baked one whenever he wants :)
Hi Amanda! And yes, you definitely can freeze cookie dough – here is a great article from one of my fellow food bloggers that goes into lots of helpful detail. Your friend is lucky to have such a good cookie-baking friend! :) Happy New Year!
I give this recipe 5 stars! I have mastered it and have been told my cookies are the best ever! Thank you fir sharing!
★★★★★
Margaret, thank you so much!! I’m so glad you like these cookies – they are our family’s faves! :)