These Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies are made with a deliciously chewy oatmeal cookie base bursting with pecans and dried figs. They’re full of amazing texture and flavor. They really are the best oatmeal cookies you will ever eat!
For the longest time, I’ve had an aversion to oatmeal raisin cookies. We used to get them as part of catered lunches when I worked in an office, and they never quite satisfied my need for a sweet afternoon treat. I stay away from them, and gravitate toward the platter of chocolate chip cookies, and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. That is until I discovered the best chewy oatmeal cookies ever existed.
These Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies are adapted from Jessica Gavin’s Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies from her cookbook Easy Culinary Science for better cooking. I’m a big fan of Jessica’s recipes. We’ve made many from both her blog and her cookbook, and they’re always on point and delicious. Plus, I just love all of her extremely useful tips on cooking and culinary science.
How to Make Oatmeal Cookies
Butter is always a good place to start when making cookies, you gotta have butter. Now if you want chewy oatmeal cookies, it’s all about the brown sugar. I used light brown sugar as it is a pantry stable for me, and I found the chewiness level to suit me well. You can turn up the chewiness with dark brown sugar, or turn it down by substituting part granulated sugar.
Obviously, you can’t have an oatmeal cookie without lots of old-fashioned rolled oats. Some nuts add a slight crunch and texture to the cookies. Pecan is quintessential holiday and cannot be beat in these cookies this holiday season. And instead of the classic raisins, I used dried figs. Dried figs are sweet and delicious on their own, and they make these Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies even more special.
I guarantee these amazing Oatmeal Fig Cookies will convert the pickiest of cookie eater. I seriously thought I will never in my life touch an oatmeal cookie, and here I am making version after version of these for days. And this will not be the last time you hear me rave about these delicious chewy oatmeal cookies!
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, rate it and don’t forget to tag me @wildwildwhisk on Instagram. I’d love to see what’s cooking up in your kitchen. Cheers!
Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 oz unsalted butter - soften
- 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped pecan
- 1 cup chopped dried fig
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Toast the pecans in a skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until slightly toasty and fragrant. Roughly chop the nuts and add to a medium mixing bowl along with the rolled oats, and a cup of chopped dried fig. Stir together and set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until even distributed. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, add softened butter and brown sugar, beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract, and continue beating until thoroughly combined, another 1 - 2 minutes.
- Lower the mixer speed to stir and slowly add the flour mixture, mix until just combined. Add the nut, oat and fig mixture and stir until evenly distributed. Give the mixture a final stir with a spatula, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Use a large ice cream scoop to portion the cookie dough. Place cookie dough on a parchment line baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Refrigerate while the oven is preheating.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake one tray at a time in the middle of the oven for 16 minutes, rotate the baking sheet at the 10 minutes mark.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 - 10 minutes, then remove them to cool completely on a wire rack.
Nutrition
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Made them! Love them! Perfect spin on regular oatmeal raisin!
Hello from London, thank you for sharing your recipe! My partner has cancer and is undergoing treatment, sometimes food is of no interest to him but I have adapted your recipe using a mix of wholewheat and spelt flour and I add lots of walnuts, almonds, sunflower & pumpkin seeds, prunes & apricots so there’s a lot of goodness packed in. Today I used 1/2 coconut oil 1/2 butter and only a 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar with a couple of spoonfuls of honey & I always at least double the amount of cinnamon (& can’t get hold of vanilla at the moment). Easy, healthy, delicious, not too sweet and a simple way for him to get a nutrient boost without any fuss even if he’s not hungry! I also tried shaping the
dough into a log and refrigerated it before slicing and baking – it was perfect, thank you!
Author
Hi Suzie, I’m so glad to hear you found a way to make your partner something tasty and nutritious. I can say I know exactly what you’re going through, my mom is a 3x cancer survivor. You will get through it, keep your spirits up, find something mood-lifting to do, like baking 🙂 Hang in there, I know you and your partner can do it! And thank you for visiting, baking, and sharing your story.
SO delicious! I made with these modifications, all accidental and couldn’t resist these things!
4oz butter
No nuts (just didn’t have any)
1 tsp almond extract (total accident)
1 tsp vanilla (to try to split the diff)
4/5 cup dried figs, 1/5 cup dates (just didn’t have enough dried figs)
I ate them for: snack, dinner, breakfast, lunch, and snack #2. PROceed with caution!
Author
Hey Megan, so glad to hear you liked them with the modifications!
Do you think I could substitute dates for the figs? Thanks!
Author
Hi Laura, yes, you can substitute any dried fruits you have in this recipe. Just expect a different flavor, I think dates will be quite sweet, sweeter than the figs, but should work just as well.
Was gifted some dried figs so looked for a 5 star recipe. Gurrrrrrtl, this recipe is the TRUTH! Perfect recipe!
Author
Awesome!!! So glad you love it, Tracy 🙂
Best chewiest cookie I ever ate! Very, very good!
Author
Thank you Cindy! So happy to hear you enjoyed these 🙂
OMG, I just made these….and they are truly heaven! Slightly crisp edges with a really chewy texture and buttery and slightly nutty flavor, combined with the oats and figs……AMAZING! These oatmeal cookies put your standard recipes to shame. SERIOUSLY! The only adjustment I had to make was the name time. I used 2 different types of cookie sheets, and one baked them about 2-3 minutes quicker. Not an issue for me, though, as I always monitor the things I cook and bake.
Author
Thank you Linda! Always a good idea to watch your baked goods a couple mins before the listed time since ovens can run at slightly different temp too. But I’m so happy to hear how much you enjoy these!
I made these and they were a HUGE hit! I used dark brown sugar and it was fantastic! Super chewy in the center and slightly crisp on the edges…a perfect cookie to me!
Author
Thank you so much Dustin! I’m super happy to hear how much you enjoyed these cookies 🙂
I used very ripe fresh figs which I cooked down to reduce the water content and carmelizing the sugars. It was 1 cup cooked figs with 1 stick of butter and walnuts instead. They were a hit 🤗
Author
Excellent Jane, such a great idea to cook down fresh figs when they are in season. Love it!
Hi – thanks for your recipe. I’ve used it as base and experimented with different nuts and fruit. I’ve made a few variations on your version:
1. I dont use sugar and use xlyitol instead, Only 60g (2oz?) but that may not suit everyone.
2. This of course does not result in a chewy cookie and also the sugar binds the cookie together so I add an extra egg white. I use the yolk for something else like hollandiase sauce.
3. I also use more butter about 250g (is that 9 oz?) that helps with the dryness as well
4. I don’t roast the nuts as they get roasted as part of the process of baking
5. I find that all cookie dough really benefits from time in the fridge. So after mixing I divide the dough into 2 logs and wrap in plastic wrap like a bonbon with twisted ends and leave in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. I then slice with a bread knife (the serrated blade helps to cut through the nuts and dried fruit) into nice even portions and bake.
I have tried quite a few different nut/fruit combos: pistachio/hazelnuts/almonds/cranberry/raspberry/blueberry and they all have been great
Author
Thanks for all the tips and modifications Anna. I hope others will find it helpful and I’m glad you enjoy these cookies. I do love all the variations, have you try dried mango and macadamia nuts version?
Was the best cookies I’ve made since my mother taught me!! Shared them with several people and they all loved them??? n that’s why I’m making them again??
Author
Yay!! So glad you like them 🙂 and thanks for visiting!
I was excited to try these cookies. They were very cold from the fridge to oven. Mine spread flat and over baked in 10 minutes. They turned out crispy, not chewy. Do not know what went wrong. They have a great flavor, if I can just get them to be chewy and lighter in color. I will try them at eight minutes, but do not know why they went flat.
Author
Hmm… That’s strange that they over bake in 10 mins. How many did you have in a batch? If your cookies are smaller in size, they could cause them to overcook quickly. As for spreading flat:
1. Did you use new baking soda or old? Old ones lose their properties over time and cookies can spread flat.
2. Or possibly not enough leavening agent (either baking soda or baking powder) could also cause them to spread.
3. Maybe not enough flour to give them body? I use the measuring cup to scoop then level, no sifting or fluffing. Different ways of measuring can yield slightly different amount of flour.
4. Perhaps your oven temperature is slightly hotter? Try at a lower temperature next time. Bake a couple at 325F and see how those turn out, then adjust up or down as you see fit for the rest of the batch.
Can u use fresh figs and how many/ what amount?
Author
I wouldn’t recommend fresh figs, they have a lot more moisture compared to dried figs and will completely change how the cookies bake up. Most likely, it will create mushy cookies as the moisture is released while baking unless you also change how much flour you add to the batter to compensate for this added moisture content. Without actually testing the recipe with fresh figs, I cannot say for sure what else you’ll need to change.
Okay I tried on your recipe. An Chile I’m talk good. I’m about to TURNUP on the recipe to make it my own.
Thank you for sharing.
I tried the recipe, great taste! But mine came out puffy and dry, did I miss an ingredient? Thanks!
Author
Oh no, it shouldn’t be too puffy or dry. These cookies are very chewy. Did you use brown sugar? Granulated sugar would dry it out since there’s no molasses. Or perhaps you added a bit more flour? If you add too much dry ingredients, it could dry out the batter also. If you refrigerate too long, it could seem puffy because the cookies wouldn’t spread as much. I’m not entirely sure, but if you try it again, let me know if I can help troubleshoot.
The figs look great in these, I’ll have to see if I can get some. I quite like oatmeal cookies but you’re right, those ones that get handed round the office are always off the mark somehow.
What about less brown sugar? How would that work? Or Any substitute for the brown sugar?
Author
Hi Niki, the brown sugar contributes to the chewiness of the cookies. If you don’t have brown sugar, granulated will work to sweeten, but it will turn out less chewy.
Thank you!
Author
You’re so welcome!