Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies With Vanilla & Cinnamon

That history matters because oatmeal has always changed the character of a cookie. Rolled oats absorb moisture while adding a coarse, hearty texture that flour alone cannot provide. In this recipe, two cups of old-fashioned oats give the cookies their chew, while equal amounts of brown and granulated sugar help create that combination of crisp edge and softer center that readers have commented on for years.

The cinnamon is deliberately restrained. One teaspoon is enough to perfume the dough without turning the cookie into a spice cookie. A full tablespoon of vanilla gives the dough a fuller flavor, especially once the butter and brown sugar begin to caramelize at the edges in the oven.

The timing matters here. I pull these cookies while the centers still look slightly underdone. They continue to set from the heat of the baking sheet, flattening as they cool and developing the texture I want. Leave them in the oven until the centers look completely baked and you lose some of that chew.

You can chill the dough for about 30 minutes before baking if you prefer a slightly thicker cookie with a little less spread. I often recommend it when the kitchen is warm or the butter has become particularly soft. Either way, give the cookies enough room on the baking sheet. This is a dough that spreads.

Perhaps the best proof of a recipe comes years after it was first published, when people are still making it.

In February 2017, Natasha Moonilal wrote on Yummly that the cookies were “simply delicious and so easy to make,” adding that her son loved them and her husband could hardly leave them alone. That same month, Tracie A. wrote that she loved the balance of “chewy center and slightly crunchy edge,” and mentioned adding toffee chips to hers. A reader that April called them “fast and fabulous.”