Just cook them longer. Most people don't like them crunchy, but that's OK. Add a little more butter and cook them for a few minutes more and they'll be crispy.

I agree, bake them longer and they'll get crunchier. You can also try flattening them out a bit more when you put them on the cookie sheet before baking

Annie

If baked longer, I'm afraid they would burn. Perhaps lowering the temperature to 325 would help. Also, I use shiny aluminum cookie sheets. Maybe I could bake them longer without burning using the insulated baking sheets.

Will add a bit more butter and flatten them more.
Thanks for your suggestions.

By "longer" I suspect people mean just a couple of minutes as opposed to long enough for them to burn. My DH prefers softer chewy cookies and I find that even two minutes can make a difference.

Actually, I usually broil them for just a minute or two. It carmelizes the sugar in it, and gives it a bit of "crust".

An extra minute or two should do it, I use the baking time in a recipe as a guideline, sometimes it's too short, sometimes it's too long, rarely is it just right.

What type of oatmeal do you use?
That could affect the finished product.
My family prefers the texture of the "Old Fashioned" oats.

And personally, I haven't had satisfactory results
when I use the insulated cookie sheets.
We like softer, chewy middles with crispy brown edges.
I've never been able to achieve that
with insulated cookie sheets.

Rusty

It sounds like you already have a recipe that you like, but I wanted to throw this out there as I just made them the other day and they were wonderful. The texture was crispy but still tender.

Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies (Smitten Kitchen)
Adapted from CookâÂÂs Illustrated

The original recipe didnâÂÂt have white chocolate in it, but it really works wonderfully in here. Even if youâÂÂre a dark chocolate fan. Watch out, use the good stuff and this may even convert you.

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

6 ounces good-quality white chocolate bar, chopped (not âÂÂwhite chocolateâ chips; theyâÂÂre almost always artificial. I am adamant about this.)

1/2 teapoon flaky sea salt (like Maldon or fleur de sel) (for sprinkling on top)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt in a medium bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down bowl again. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until just incorporated and smooth. Gradually add oats and white chocolate and mix until well incorporated.

3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, each about 2 tablespoons. Roll between palms into balls, then place on lined baking sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using fingertips, gently press down each ball to about 3/4-inch thickness.

4. Sprinkle a flake or two of sea salt on each cookie

5. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smitten Kitchen Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

When I make peanut butter cookies the recipe I have uses shortening. They're crisp/crumbly, where if I use butter in its place they're a bit softer and if I use whipped margarine, they're very soft. What kind of fat are you using?

Like Rob333, i have broiled for just a minute or two. Or raise the sheet to a higher rack for the last 4-5 minutes.
Caramelizes the top. Or you could brush the top half way in the cooking time with a melted butter/brown sugar glaze eliminating the need for extra butter in the entire batch.

Thanks for the good suggestions.
I've read that white sugar produces a crisper cookie so I've tried 1/2 and 1/2 with brown sugar. Didn't notice a difference.

Usually I use butter but have tried 1/2 coconut oil and did not notice any difference in the texture.

I've tried regular old-fashioned oatmeal but the result was more like a granola bar.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
ý tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
ý tsp salt
2 cups rolled oats (quick cooking)
1 cup coconut
ý cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar, add well-beaten eggs. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add rolled oats, coconut and nuts. Chill for a few hours, then roll in balls, put in pan and press with a fork to flatten (or use cookie press dipped in flour) Bake 350 for 9-11 min

Oops - double posting

This post was edited by subrosa on Tue, May 28, 13 at 12:22

I also prefer a soft chewy oatmeal cookie.

The recipe I use though, can be baked a minute or two longer for a crispy cookie, or a minute or two less for a soft chewy texture.

It is a versatile recipe. You can adjust it by adding cranberries, raisins, white chocolate, toasted coconut, etc....

Also, I always bake cookies on parchment.

Best Oatmeal Cookies
Source: Toronto Star

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup
packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon
baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir into butter mixture. Add rolled oats. Roll into small balls (golf ball size) and flatten with glass dipped in sugar. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Cookie should not get brown. Cool on wire rack.

Options: Add chopped Callebaut White chocolate and sprinkle with sea salt. Add toasted coconut, raisins, cranberries, etc...
For a lacy - thinner buttery cookie, reduce the flour to 1 cup. Cookies will spread more so be sure to space further apart.

Rusty, I don't care for the results I get using insulated cookie sheets either, I've finally relegated mine to "oven liners", used only to put under pies or dishes that might boil over in the oven.

By "longer", I did mean perhaps 2 minutes, I find that's the difference between crunchy and chewy in most instances. I also flatten the cookie if I want it crunchy.

I've also found that using shortening results in my cookies being more "short", or crumbly like shortbread. Butter usually makes them a bit more crisp, but not crumbly. Like Ann T, I've also used less flour to make a crunchier cookies as the batter flattens out more.

Good luck, I like them chewy, so I use the old Quaker Oats recipe that has more oats than flour, and I use original oats, not the quick cooking stuff because it has more "chew". Everyone likes their cookies differently, so I hope you find the texture you like, as you seem to have already found the flavor you are looking for.

Annie

Annie, you just solved my problem in recreating the cookies I liked. Duh! on my part. Original, not fast cooking. Thanks!

Yes to what some of the above said. Cookies are like pizza. An extra minute or two makes a big difference. You can flatten them out and cook for an extra couple minutes and they'll be crispier - I curse when that happens because I like them softer. Also the thicker they are, the softer they tend to be, but that is partly based on how much they spread, which is partly based on the fats and liquids.

I would never use margarines or shortenings - they leave a coating in your mouth that's not pleasant at all. But one thing you can do to help the spread of your cookies is keep the dough for a few days. Most of the liquid in cookies comes from eggs, some from honey or molasses, but those things are only absorbed very slowly by flour. There's a big dif between a cookie made from very fresh dough and one that's made from dough that's been in the fridge for a few days. That works with any cookie, not just oatmeal cookies BTW.

I like both crunchy and soft oatmeal cookies. For crunchy ones, I use granola instead of oats and decrease the sugar by about 30%, depending on how sweet the granola is. If you do not have granola, you can toast the oats lightly before adding them, and that will help make the cookies crisper, but granola works better. I try to use granola that does not have dried fruit it in when I make these, but I do like coconut and almonds in the granola. If you like raisins in your oatmeal cookies, it is okay to use granola with raisins. I often add chocolate chips to my granola cookies.

Lars