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Perfectly chewy and soft on the inside and the right amount of crispy on the outside, you’ll love this Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies recipe. Loaded with sweet but tart pockets of flavor from the cranberries, you won’t be able to stop at just one cookie. Enjoy it as a dessert or as a snack throughout the day.
These oatmeal cranberry cookies are the perfect cookie for a cookie exchange or just to eat all by yourself. These are the best oatmeal cookies with cranberries if I do say so myself. Thanks to the rolled oats and brown sugar, they have the right amount of sweetness and flavor while being perfectly chewy.
This cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe is so easy to make and only requires a handful of pantry staples. I tested this recipe baked straight from the mixing bowl which means there’s no chilling time. So these cookies come together quickly, making them perfect as a last-minute dessert when guests come over for holiday dinners. If you’ve got extra oatmeal leftover from these cookies, you should try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, or No Bake Cookie Recipe.
“So easy and everyone that has them loves and raves about them.”
Hope
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Rolled oats — you need to use old-fashioned rolled oats and not quick oats or steel-cut oats for this cookie recipe. Just like with classic oatmeal cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies, in this recipe, quick oats will fall apart, whereas steel-cut oats are not processed enough and are quite hard, leading to an undesirable texture for these oatmeal cranberry cookies.
Butter — when buying butter, be sure to pick up unsalted butter and not salted butter. Salted butter does not have a consistent amount of salt across different brands, so you should add your own. (Learn the exact difference between salted vs. unsalted butter and how to swap them.) To tell when butter is room temperature, press your finger into the butter. Your finger leaves a dent if the butter is room temperature. If it’s cold, it’ll be challenging to cream it with the sugars. Use my tested methods for softening butter quickly if you don’t have time to leave it out on the counter.
Eggs — room temperature eggs will mix more evenly into the creamed butter. Place your eggs into a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes. Doing so will quickly bring it to room temperature if you have forgotten to take it out of your fridge ahead of time.
Brown sugar — brown sugar keeps the cookies moist and soft on the inside. The brown sugar also adds a delicious molasses flavor. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can follow this post on how to make brown sugar! I have tested these with all granulated sugar, too, and it works well; the cookies get a bit crispier without the molasses. Make sure your brown sugar is soft and moist for the best cookies. If your brown sugar has hardened, don’t worry, it’s an easy fix! I wrote a detailed post on how to soften brown sugar.
Baking soda — the cookie dough is heavy, so the baking soda helps lift the cookies so they aren’t too dense. It also raises the pH of the dough, which aids in spreading. (See my post on The 4 Cookie Textures to learn more about the role baking soda play in cookies!) Double-check the date on your box of baking soda to ensure it’s not expired.
How To Make Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
1. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients by whisking together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. You can use an electric hand mixer here, too.
3. Once the butter and sugar is fluffy, add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Stop mixing to scrape down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla until just combined.
4. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the bowl. You should still see a few streaks of flour in the bowl.
5. Beat in the oats and cranberries just until combined. The mix-ins should be well distributed and no dry pockets of flour should remain in the bowl.
6. Scoop the dough into 1½-tablespoon-size portions using a spring-loaded scoop or spoons, and place them onto the lined baking sheets, about 1½-inches apart. You will need to bake the cookies in batches. In testing, I could fit 12 cookies on one half sheet tray (12×17″). Bake one tray at a time until the cookies are lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes for the centers to finish setting. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
Measure your flour and rolled oats correctly to avoid dry and dense cookies. Adding too much flour and oats to the recipe is the most common mistake. The easiest way to measure is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour and oats with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. Avoid packing them into a measuring cup. My guide on how to measure ingredients shows the spoon and level method and gives scale recommendations!
Use real vanilla extract and not imitation for the best results.
Make sure to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat, so your cookies don’t stick. It also prevents the bottom of the oatmeal cranberry cookies from getting too brown. I have tested baking cookies on parchment, foil, silicone, and with no lining, and I found that parchment always bakes the best because it slightly insulates the bottom. Silicone baking mats were the best runner up, with the bottoms getting slightly darker but releasing cleanly. Foil and no lining at all tends to burn and stick.
Press a few extra dried cranberries on top of the cookies for a prettier presentation.
Don’t over-bake the cranberry oat cookies, as they’ll actually continue to bake as they cool. The middle should still be soft when you pull them out.
Chill the cookie dough balls for later. They will keep in the fridge for up to 72 hours if tightly covered. See How Long To Chill Cookie Dough for specific instructions. You can bake them chilled for a thicker cookie (less spread) or let them come to room temperature before baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Feel free to add some chocolate chips or white chocolate chips for extra flavor. Nuts such as pistachios, toasted pecans, or toasted walnuts make for a great addition as well. You can substitute the cranberries or add any sweetened dried fruit in this cookie recipe. Just be sure to chop the fruit before adding to your dough if you use a larger dried fruit such as apricot.
Fresh or frozen cranberries can be used instead of dried cranberries. If you are using frozen cranberries, skip thawing and add them frozen into the batter.
But, keep in mind that they will add moisture to the cookies. The texture changes slightly, making them a bit cakey and less chewy.
Store any leftover oatmeal cookies with cranberries in an airtight container, and keep their best texture for up to 5 days at room temperature.
To keep them from drying out and to stay chewy longer, store them with a slice of sandwich bread or a few large marshmallows. The cookies will absorb the moisture as they are stored and stay chewy for about a week.
You can! Once the cookies have cooled, transfer them to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container. Freezer for up to 2 months, and when ready to enjoy, thaw on the counter until they’ve reached room temperature.
To freeze the dough, scoop it into balls, and freeze them on a lined tray before transferring to a freezer container. See my Cookie Academy guide on how to freeze cookie dough for long-term storage and avoiding freezer burn.
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
- Mixer
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (226g/2 sticks)
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar (220g)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (336g)
- 1½ cups sweetened dried cranberries (a 6oz/170g bag)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl if you want to use a hand mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined after each addition. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the oats and cranberries just until combined.
- Using a spring-loaded scoop or two spoons, scoop the dough into 1½-tablespoon-sized balls, and place them onto the lined baking sheets, about 1½ inches apart. (You should be able to fit 12 on a half sheet pan.)
- Bake one tray at a time until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure your brown sugar is soft and moist for the best cookies. If your brown sugar has hardened, don’t worry, it’s an easy fix! I wrote a detailed post on how to soften brown sugar.
- Don’t overbake the cranberry oat cookies, as they’ll continue to bake as they cool. The middle should still be soft when you pull them out.
- Room temperature eggs will mix more evenly into the creamed butter. Place your eggs into a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes. Doing so will quickly bring it to room temperature if you have forgotten to take it out of your fridge ahead of time.
- Measure your flour and rolled oats correctly to avoid dry and dense cookies. Adding too much flour and oats to the recipe is the most common mistake. The easiest way to measure is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour and oats with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. Avoid packing them into a measuring cup.
- Press a few extra dried cranberries on top of the cookies for a prettier presentation.
- Use real vanilla extract and not imitation for the best results.
- Make sure to line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat, so your cookies don’t stick. It also prevents the bottom of the cookies from getting too brown.
Nutrition
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More Recipes To Try
For more easy cookie recipes that don’t require chilling the dough, bake one of these:
- Peanut Butter Cookies: the cookie dough bakes up straight from the bowl for cookies with soft centers and slightly crisp edges.
- Chocolate Chip Cookies: the classic, chewy-center, crispy-edged cookie packed with chocolate chips and deep flavor from brown sugar.
- Peanut Butter Blossoms: press a chocolate kiss into the center right when these cookies come out of the oven.
- Oatmeal Cream Pies: the oatmeal cookies turn perfectly soft and chewy after being assembled with the filling.
- Monster Cookies: the cookie dough is packed with oats, peanut butter, M&Ms, and chocolate chips!
If you’ve tried this Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
