Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
These old-fashioned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies have crisp edges, chewy middles, and just enough raisins to balance all that chocolate. They are the best!

We used to make these all the time when I was a kid and I remembered them being one of my favorites. My sisters and I made them so often around our house that we began calling them, “the family cookie.”
I had not made them for years, but I recently rediscovered them, and, y’all. They are as good as I remembered…maybe even better.
I took some over to my daughter and son-in-law and was told that they were “fire!”
Try these cookies! I promise that you will be glad you did!

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
The original is one of those old recipes that didn’t give a lot of information.
For example, it said to use one bag of chocolate chips. There was no description of size or type.
A quick google search told me that in the 1960’s there was only one size bag of chocolate chips (12 ounces) and that semi-sweet were predominantly the ones used for baking.
Here is a list of needed ingredients.
Ingredients for Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Sugar
- White Sugar
- Shortening: I used Crisco
- 2 eggs
- Vanilla
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Flour
- Oatmeal: I used old-fashioned Quaker Oats.
- Chocolate chips: Semisweet morsels – I had the Nestle brand in my pantry but the Ghirardelli are even better!
- Raisins
- Hot water

More About Making the Cookies
The original recipe said, “Mix and drop on cookie sheet and bake.” That’s it. The entire instructions.
I suggest whisking the dry ingredients first, the sugars, the flour, the oatmeal, baking soda and salt.
Then add the eggs, shortening, vanilla and that bit of hot water. Then kind of mush that all together.
After that mix in the chocolate chips and the raisins. Honestly, you might have to use your hands to get everything incorporated.
NOTE: The original recipe called for two scant cups of flour. I just fluffed my flour up really well with a fork, measured it into a cup measure being careful not to pack it down and leveled it just barely below the level of the cup.
NOTE: I know not everyone is a fan of raisins but they really do make this recipe something special.
NOTE: The original recipe calls for 1 tsp of hot water. That seemed like such a small amount that I did a little research. Supposedly the water helps to activate the baking soda. However, most recipes that add hot water add a little more than 1 tsp so I doubled that.
NOTE: The dough will be very thick and when raw you might think that it has too many chocolate chips. Don’t worry. It doesn’t! Trust the process!
NOTE: Our original recipe gave no information about what size to roll out the cookies. I choose to go with approximately golf ball sized and that worked perfectly.

I hope that you enjoy these cookies as much as we do! Let me know what you think!

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Cookie Sheets
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 scant cups flour (see notes above)
- 2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp hot water
- 1 12 ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup raisins
Instructions
- Set oven temperature to 375 degrees.
- Put the dry ingredients in a bowl: Flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda, salt and stir together.
- Mix in the shortening, vanilla, eggs, and hot water. The mixture will be thick and you will be mushing it together more than stirring.
- Add the chocolate chips and raisins. You might have to use your hands to gently incorporate all the ingredients.
- Roll into golf ball sized balls and place on an uncreased cookie sheet. Give them room to spread out.
- Bake at 375 for 10 – 13 minutes. Every oven is different but they were perfect at 12 minutes for me. You want them to be golden brown on top and on the edges.
- Let cool for about a minute and then move to a wire rack.
Thanks for stopping by!


