The Ina Garten Cookie Recipe I Can’t Stop Making

My family loves a sweet treat as much as the next, but as my husband and I become increasingly focused on nutrition and aging and I work to ensure that my teenagers have healthy snacks on hand, I’ve tried to up my baking game to include dessert recipes with at least a few ingredients I can be proud of. Are there ways to sneak in a bit of protein? What about healthy fats? And what’s something delicious I can make that, for the most part, uses whole and simple ingredients? Plus, at this time of year, I also like to consider if it’s something nice enough for gifting or serving at the holidays.

While perusing my copy of Ina Garten’s 2008 cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, I found a cookie recipe that seemed to check off a few of my healthy-ish eating boxes. Pecans for protein and balancing blood sugar? Check. Old-fashioned oatmeal for fiber? Check. And yes, the cookies were still balanced out with delicious ingredients like brown sugar and butter. I immediately wanted to try them.

Garten’s Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies seemed like a blissful blend of the kinds of things my family loves in a cookie. Chunky and hearty from pecans and oatmeal and sweet from brown sugar and raisins, the cookies were sure to be a delight. The best part? They’re also easy to make. Simply combine pecans, butter, brown and granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, oatmeal and raisins in a mixing bowl to create the cookie dough, then portion the dough onto a baking sheet and bake it in a 350-degree oven.

There are some key steps Garten recommends to make her Raisin Pecan Oatmeal Cookies. First, she calls for toasting the pecans for about 5 minutes until crisp before chopping them to give them more flavor and a crunchier bite. It’s also a good idea to mix the sugars and butter together until creamed before adding the eggs and vanilla. Next, the dry ingredients get sifted into the wet batter before the oats, raisins and pecans get lightly mixed into the bowl using a spoon. 

To bake these Barefoot Contessa cookies, drop 2-inch mounds of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then flatten each mound with a damp hand. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 F, then allow the cookies to cool on a baking rack. When they’re finished, you’re left with a golden brown, chewy cookie filled with delightful bits of crunch from the pecans. The raisins and oatmeal give these cookies a comforting flavor reminiscent of traditional oatmeal raisin cookies, but with a unique twist.

Not a raisin person? Not to worry. I’ve made tons of substitutions to this cookie recipe over the years, both for fun and because I realized during the baking process that I’d run out of one of the ingredients in my pantry. Happy accident or intentional revamp, some of my favorite changes have been experimenting with different kinds of nuts, like walnuts, and swapping out the raisins for other kinds of dried fruit like dried cranberries or blueberries. I’ve also been known to throw in some roughly chopped dark chocolate or to top each cookie with a few flakes of sea salt before baking to change up the flavors a bit or to make them extra special for the holidays.

However I make them, I keep the basics like oatmeal and brown sugar the same, guaranteeing a hearty oatmeal cookie that’s perfect for fall and winter baking. What’s more, my teenagers love these cookies and have been known to disappear with a few as a late-night snack or take a few on-the-go for a quick pick-me-up. I love knowing they’re taking something homemade along with them when they’re running to rehearsals or social gatherings, and I love when one of them specifically requests that I make “those oatmeal raisin nut cookies.” I almost always happily oblige.

Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook is filled with simple recipes like this one, as its focus is the easy techniques and ingredients that have become part of Garten’s infamously refined style of cooking and baking. The book is about transforming easy-to-find, simple ingredients into something elegant without stress—something I am all about at this busy stage in my own life.

Simple, delicious and fun to tweak, this is a great oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that, like everything Garten touches, turns to gold when served to your family. Try these cookies this fall or winter, whether for an everyday treat or for the holidays. I guarantee that your family will think they’re as comforting and delicious as mine does.