Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Soft-baked and ultra chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are made with brown sugar, vanilla, chewy oats, white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and a secret ingredient. This recipe wins for flavor and texture! They are festive for the holidays, but make a great anytime treat, too!
Enjoy these along with some of our other favorite holiday cookies! Classic Mexican Wedding Cookies, these warmly spiced Chai Cookies and my kids’ favorite, Cut-Out Sugar Cookies are all so delicious!
There’s something about Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies that I just can’t get enough of. They taste amazing with rich white chocolate flavor and tart and tangy cranberries! But the best part is all of the great texture! These are soft and bendy, and the oats make them extra thick and chewy! Add these to your dessert menu, you won’t regret it!
Cranberry cookies are simple to make and the ingredients work for any season! Whether you bake these for the holidays or in the middle of summer, they are sure to be favorites. They are so soft and tender and the contrasting tart and sweet cannot be beat! Your family and friends will go crazy over them!
Why you will love this recipe
- Perfectly rich and buttery
- Moist and tender centers
- Slight crisp on the edges
- Sweetened with brown sugar
- Loaded with chewy oats
- Taste just like Grandma’s
I found this recipe when I was looking to use up some dried cranberries — it is delightful! If you follow the recipe, including reading the tips, they will come out perfectly. The pairing of cranberry and white chocolate is legendary! So good!
— Kate
Ingredients you’ll need
This cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe combines all the basic cookie ingredients to create a thick and chewy base. Plus, they’re jam-packed with cranberries and white chocolate! Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Flour: All-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour will result in the perfect tender crumb.
- Rolled oats: Old-fashioned rolled oats provide lots of great texture.
- Baking soda: For the perfect rise while baking.
- Cornstarch: This is my secret ingredient! Cornstarch gives the cookies that incredibly soft consistency we all love. Plus, it helps keep the cookies wonderfully thick. We use the same trick when making monster cookies.
- Salt: A small amount of salt is important to enhance all of the amazing flavors.
- Unsalted cold butter: Using unsalted butter allows you to fully control the amount of salt going into your recipe. And with this recipe, there’s no need to melt your butter or wait for it to reach room temperature. We’re using cold, cubed butter straight from the fridge, which will help keep the cookies nice and thick.
- Sugars: Use a mix of brown and granulated sugar for the best taste and texture! Brown sugar adds a warm, caramel-like sweetness and plenty of moisture. Light brown sugar may be used but dark brown sugar is recommend for a more pronounced molasses flavor.
- Eggs: Two large eggs will bind the ingredients and provide structure and richness.
- Vanilla extract: For complex flavor use pure vanilla extract, not imitation. You can truly taste the difference.
- Dried cranberries: The perfect balance of sweet and tart!
- White chocolate chips: Optional, but recommended for a deliciously creamy and sweet flavor.
Variations and substitutions
- Chocolate chips: I love the combination of white chocolate with tart cranberries, but actually dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips would be wonderful in this recipe, too!
- Nuts: Add in about a cup of chopped pecans or chopped walnuts for a nutty crunch and extra texture.
- Dried fruit: You can sub the dried cranberries for golden raisins, chopped dates, dried cherries or craisins.
How to make this recipe
These oatmeal cranberry cookies are simple and straightforward to make! Just follow these easy steps for an amazing treat:
Prep: Preheat oven to 365ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, rolled oats, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Combine butter with sugar: In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment to cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed for even mixing.
Finish mixing wet ingredients: Add eggs and vanilla and cream for 1 minute longer.
Add dry ingredients: Gently stir in the flour mixture on low speed, adding a little at a time. Don’t over-mix.
Mix add-ins: Fold in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Chill dough for about 1 hour for the best texture and flavor.
Make dough balls: Scoop dough out using a 1/8 cup measuring cup or 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, and roll into balls. Lay six dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Bake: Place in the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges start to turn a light golden color. Do not over bake!
Cool and enjoy: Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, you can press a few more cranberries and white chocolate chips into the tops for presentation!
Helpful tips
- Type of oats: I can only recommend whole rolled oats, not quick oats. Quick oats are thinner and more powdery, so you’ll miss out on a lot of texture.
- Measure flour correctly: Using a food scale is the most precise method for measuring ingredients, especially flour. If you don’t have one available, lightly spoon flour (don’t pack) into a measuring cup and without shaking the cup, use the straight side of a butter knife to level the flour across the measuring cup.
- Chilling the dough: It’s not completely necessary, but for the best texture and flavor, I like to chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator (and up to 2-3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, though, allow the batter to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be hard to scoop.
- Don’t over-bake: For the best soft and chewy texture, be sure to check on these after about 9 minutes of baking. They are done when the edges are set but the middles are still soft. They will continue baking on the baking sheet after being removed from the oven.
Frequently asked questions
Fresh cranberries will not have the right texture for this cookie recipe. They will release liquid as they bake and they will also taste too tart.
For perfectly chewy cranberry oatmeal cookies, use more brown sugar than white sugar, use two eggs, don’t overwork the dough and chill the dough.
These cookies are freezer-friendly. Once they have cooled, transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months, and when ready to enjoy, thaw on the counter until they’ve reached room temperature.
Yes, to freeze the cookie dough, place cookie dough balls in a single layer on a lined baking sheet. Freeze until firm, then transfer the dough balls into zip-top freezer-safe bags to freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, you can bake the cookie dough balls from frozen with an extra minute added to the baking time.
Storage tips
Store leftover white chocolate chip cranberry cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also store them in the fridge, but they won’t be as chewy.
More favorite cookie recipes
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Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup (270g) all-purpose flour, (spooned & leveled)
- 1 1/2 cup (120g) rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup (200g) light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (240g) dried cranberries or craisins
- 3/4 cup (135g) white chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 365ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, rolled oats, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment to cream butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed for even mixing.
- Add eggs and vanilla and cream for 1 minute longer.
- Gently stir in the flour mixture on low speed, adding a little at a time. Don’t over-mix. Fold in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- Not completely necessary, but for the best texture and flavor, I like to chill the dough for 1 hour in the refrigerator (and up to 2-3 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, though, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be hard to scoop.
- Scoop dough out using a 1/8 cup measuring cup or 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, and roll into balls. Lay six dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges start to turn a light golden color.
- Do not over bake! Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, you can press a few more cranberries and white chocolate chips into the tops for presentation!
Notes
- Freezing the dough: Scoop out balls of dough. Flash freeze the balls on a pan for about 30 minutes and then place them in a freezer-safe baggie for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw.
- Make ahead dough: If you are wanting to prep just several days ahead, you can keep batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezing baked cookies: Store in a freezer-safe container or baggie, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Storing: Leftover cookies will keep in an airtight container or zip-top baggie at room temperature for about 1 week.
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I found this recipe when I was looking to use up some dried cranberries — it is delightful! If you follow the recipe, including reading the tips, they will come out perfectly. The pairing of cranberry and white chocolate is legendary! So good!