Soft & Chewy High-Protein Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are extremely underrated. Personally, I think they are one of the most delicious cookies out there.

And while the idea of oatmeal cookies with raisins sounds healthy, they’re still just cookies. But today, we’re going to change that.

We’re going to make some oatmeal raisin protein cookies.

These healthy cookies are as delicious as any real-deal cookies you’ve had, with the perfect chewy texture and amazing flavor that you’d expect from an oatmeal raisin cookie.

But the best thing about these cookies is that they contain only 100 calories each, and pack just under 6 grams of protein each.

So whether you just need to prep for a quick breakfast during the week, need a new post-workout snack, or simply want to enjoy some delicious cookies, you’re in the right place.

 

Ingredients needed for healthy oatmeal raisin cookies

These protein oatmeal raisin cookies are pretty straightforward, but there are a few key ingredients that I need to break down here for you.

The base of these cookies is made with a combination of oats and oat flour. As far as oats are concerned, you can use any that you have: quick oats, old-fashioned rolled oats, etc.

Oat flour is simply oats that have been ground up into a fine powder, so if you don’t have any, you can make your own by adding some oats to a blender or food processor. The oat flour replaces all-purpose flour that you see in most recipes to not only give these cookies even more oat flavor, but also make this cookie dough safe to eat raw!

We’re also adding a scoop of protein powder to these cookies, and this is the area where a lot of people look for substitutions.

In this recipe, I used PEScience’s Snickerdoodle protein powder. The flavor of this protein powder works perfectly in these cookies, and I highly recommend it. But most importantly, it’s a whey & casein blend, which I’ve found to produce the best results (it’s what I use in all of my protein cookie recipes).

As far as the flavor is concerned, you can use vanilla protein powder and these cookies will still taste great, but I caution you with using different protein powders. Whey protein tends to lead to dry cookies, and plant-based protein powder will require additional liquid in your cookie dough.

Lastly, we’re using a small amount of canned pumpkin in this recipe. I know that sounds like an odd addition, but you don’t taste it, and it’s my favorite healthy ingredient to use for two reasons:

1) It’s extremely low-calorie and can replace some butter in a recipe.

2) It retains moisture and keeps cookies super soft. I mean, just look how soft and gooey these cookies are:

We’re only using a small amount in this recipe, so you can swap it out if you need to. The same amount of applesauce, or even butter, will work in its place, but it will ultimately change the texture of these cookies slightly.

 

How to make oatmeal raisin protein cookies

This oatmeal raisin cookie dough is very simple to throw together, and it will be ready to go in just minutes, but the order in which we mix everything will make a difference.

Add all of your ingredients to a large mixing bowl, then mix it up until a thick paste forms. We’re going to be mixing together all of the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients at once, but we’re leaving the protein powder out.

It sounds silly, but by adding the protein powder last, we actually improve the texture of the cookie dough a lot and reduce the stickiness that protein powder tends to cause.

Once you mix the protein powder in, you should have a delicious-looking cookie dough.

Last, but certainly not least, fold in 1/4 cup raisins. If you prefer chocolate, you can swap the raisins out for dark chocolate chips to turn these into oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, too!

I know that waiting is the worst, but at this stage, we’re going to chill the cookie dough for one hour. This allows the flavors to develop, which goes a long way in high-protein baking.

Once the cookie dough has chilled, break it apart into 6 pieces and roll them into balls.

Place the cookie dough balls on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and then lightly press down the tops to form them into discs. We don’t want to completely flatten the cookies, but flattening them down a tiny bit will help them to spread properly.

Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

When you remove these cookies from the oven, they may seem underbaked, but they firm up as they cool, so it’s important to allow these cookies to cool for 20-30 minutes.

Once cooled, these oatmeal raisin cookies will be perfectly soft & chewy!

And since all of the ingredients are safe to eat raw, even if they are underbaked, you’re still perfectly okay.

 

More healthy protein cookies to enjoy

This healthy oatmeal cookie recipe is one of many healthy cookie recipes I have on my site. Cookies are my favorite dessert on the planet, so I have a ton of amazing high protein and low calorie cookie recipes that I know you’re going to love.