The Best Flour To Use For Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Just Makes Sense

Oatmeal raisin is one of the more polarizing types of cookies. While we believe that you should let them into your heart and admit oatmeal raisin cookies are good, there's one frequently overlooked flour substitution that makes these homemade sweet treats even better. Rather than just using all-purpose flour and toasted oats to create the cookie's base, try utilizing oat flour alongside the two key ingredients to give them a noticeable upgrade.

This tip comes from Vivian Villa, chef, product development specialist, and founder of Villa's Authentic Sauces. Villa told The Takeout that this addition can have incredible effects on your dessert. "When added to a cookie recipe, oat flour absorbs and retains moisture and imparts a pleasant nuttiness and chew," she explained. For those looking to minimize gluten intake, oats are also gluten-free. "Oat flour is less grainy than other gluten-free flours. It imparts a pleasant sweetness and moistness, which makes it an excellent flour for use in a cookie recipe base," Villa shared.

Before you break out the mixing bowl, it's important to note that you can't just substitute all-purpose flour for oat flour in a 1-to-1 ratio. "Cookies made with oat flour will be dense and not rise as much as those made with regular flour," Vivian Villa warned. However, she said that using equal parts all-purpose flour and oat flour will give your cookies that best taste without damaging their texture. "Substituting half of the all-purpose flour with oat flour will yield a cookie that has structure (due to the gluten in the flour) and nuttiness (oat flour)," she explained.

Luckily, gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookies made with oat flour aren't out of reach — you just need to modify the recipe if you want to make gluten-free baked goods. All it takes is a bit of baking powder. "Denser than flour and lacking in gluten, a leavening agent will keep cookies from falling flat," Villa explained. "Chilling the dough before baking will help with the rise as well," she added.