I remember spending a lot of time with my grandparents as a kid. Grandpa would paint and go on adventures with me, and grandma would cook. She was a five foot tall ball of fire and her cooking was second to none. One of my favorite things we used to make were my grandma’s oatmeal cookies. They were sweet, crunchy, and had so much butter that Paula Deen herself would be proud. When my grandma passed, my mom took up the mantle of cookie maker, and now it is starting to be passed on to me. This one recipe is something that has been enjoyed by our family for generations, and eventually I will pass it down to my daughter, who already loves to be in the kitchen.
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Grandma’s Oatmeal Cookies
My grandma’s oatmeal cookies always really get me into the Fall spirit. They remind me of spending time with my grandparents in their mountain cabin in North Carolina, enjoying the brisk fall air. Since they have passed, my mom and I are the cookie makers now and we will pass it down to my daughter and son, who will hopefully pass it down to my future grand kids. I love having this tradition, and I wanted to share a little bit of that with you. While these cookies are special, they are by no means a secret. Maybe by sharing my grandma’s oatmeal cookies with you, you can start your own family tradition!
What You Need
Unlike many of the other recipes here on The Coffee Mom, this does not have minimal ingredients. In fact, it has quite a few ingredients, but most them them you probably have in your home already.
You will need: Butter, Brown Sugar, Sugar, All Purpose Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Vanilla, Oatmeal, and eggs.
Well, really the list doesn’t seem that long, until you keep reading down below and see how much of some of these you need. (Hint: Paula Deen amounts of butter up in here because Grandma didn’t play around).
Phase 1
Oh yea, you read that right, Grandma’s oatmeal cookies are made in 2 phases. I promise though, they are worth the effort! The first phases is rather simple, you mix together your butter and both sugars.
Once they are nice and creamed, slowly start adding in the rest of your ingredients. This works well with a stand mixer or a hand mixer. I wouldn’t recommend mixing by hand though, because it gets pretty thick.
Once everything is well mixed, you are going to separate in half and form into two loaves. Once you have your loaves, wrap them in wax paper and freeze until they are hard.
Phase 2
After the dough is nice and hard, probably after a few hours but I like to let it set overnight, it is time to bake! Pre-heat your oven to 325. While you are waiting, you want to slice the dough as thin as you can and place onto a cookie sheet. Cook time will vary depending on your oven and the thickness of the cookies. Mine took about 12-15 minutes to fully cook.
Let them cool down and enjoy!
*I used the Country Crock buttery sticks, which allowed me to bake my cookies without softening the butter! While this post is NOT sponsored, you can check out my Instagram post in partnership with Country Crock here*

Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies
Thin, crispy, and sweet, Grandma's Oatmeal Cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 Sticks Butter (softened)
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Cup Refined Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1.5 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1.5 Tsp Vanilla
- 3 Cups Oatmeal
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
Instructions
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Cream butter and eggs
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Slowly stir in the rest of the ingredients until well mixed
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Separate and made 2 loaves
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Wrap loaves with wax paper and freeze until hard ( overnight is optimal)
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Heat oven to 325
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Slice very thin and bake for 12-15 minutes
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Let cool and enjoy!
I love oatmeal cookies. They remind me of the ones my mom made when we were kids. Super excited to try this recipe.
I hope you like them! If you make them, let me know how they turn out.
These look so freakin’ yummy! I would have never thought to freeze the dough overnight before baking, but that’s actually pretty genius. Easier to work with, and I bet it makes for a softer cookie, even with the super thin slices. How special that you’ll be able to pass this down to your girl and carry on the fall tradition. 🙂
Yes with these it is impossible to cut the dough if it isn’t frozen. It just falls apart lol I have never tried it with other cookies though so i may do that
We love the oatmeal cookies from Subway so much that we often go there just for the cookies. Making them at home would be so much better!
And dinner tonight shall be cookies! These look so good and the oats make them healthy, right?
I believe so I mean oatmeal is healthy, it cancels out the sugar and butter totally!! Cookies for dinner !
I haven’t had a good oatmeal cookie in a really long time. I think I’m gonna have to give this recipe a try!
The first cookie I can remember making is an oatmeal cookie. I used to love them so much. They were my favorite.
I love it when recipes are being passed from one generation to the other. I make sure to share family recipes with the kids by preparing it for them. This recipe is totally worth it. I love oatmeal cookies and this one’s a keeper!
These look delicious! I haven’t had oatmeal cookies in a really long time! My grandma used to bake the best treats, and after she passed I got her personal cookbook and one of my siblings stole it:(
My kids love oatmeal cookies. I love that you are using some a time-tested recipe! I often buy country crock!
These look amazing! Last week I pulled out one of my family recipes excited to share with my kids. Then discovered it calls for 3 cups of sugar!! LOL NO wonder it was SO GOOD as a kid! lol
Family recipes are the best
Those cookies sound amazing and surprisingly simple to make. Love that you freeze the dough, a lot better than the store bought slice and bake.
thank you for sharing this recipe! I don’t have a “grandma” recipe for oatmeal cookies so I will for sure be pinning this for later.
These oatmeal cookies look and sound great. Plus, I love how the recipe has been passed down through your family, and will continue to be for years to come!
These look so, so good! Oatmeal favorite is definitely one of my favorites, right after chocolate chip of course. I will try to make them, thanks for sharing!
these look so good. I haven’t made cookies from scratch in years. I’m going to try this recipe.
Family recipes are the best. I remember making tortillas with my grandma and for the life of me can’t get it right as an adult. We used Country Crock in our home too!
Thank you for this! My mother-in-law just LOVES oatmeal cookies but she hasn’t found one she likes from the store in a long time. I think I will make a batch of these for her and be a hero, lol
These look so delicious, I just had to pin the recipe to try sometime! Thanks for sharing your grandma’s recipe with us!
You can’t go wrong with Grandma’s recipes! I love oatmeal cookies, so I will definitely give this one a try.
Oatmeal cookies are always such a hit in our house. These look like they would hit the spot!
Oh my yum, I love oatmeal cookies! I’m definitely going to try your recipe ASAP, thank you for sharing.
I love oatmeal cookies. In fact, I wish I was having one right now with my coffee! Adding this to my recipe folder to make at a later time!
Looks delicious! Will definitely try these out.
I love eating oatmeal cookies. Have to try the country crock spread for baking, probably easier than waiting for butter to melt.