Big fat white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies! The name pretty much has it covered — thick cookies with slightly crisped exteriors and soft chewy center, loaded with sweet white chocolate chips and dried cranberries and made with pulverized oats. These cookies have the best texture, and their flavor is unforgettable!
Zach asked me to make this recipe for him a while ago after tasting them at a work lunch.
I dutifully wrote down all of the cookie qualities that he asked for: cranberries, white chocolate, soft and chewy interiors, and oats, but without an overwhelmingly “oaty” (!?) texture. I then proceeded to skip right on past that recipe request for the next year and a half.
Yup, a year and a half.
You’d think that with all of the baking that I do every day my very own husband wouldn’t need to wait 545 days or so for such a simple request, but here we are, and when I told him that I’d finally made these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies for him, he had literally no idea what I was even talking about.
Fortunately, that didn’t stop him from inhaling a dozen of them still warm (and commenting that they would be great with some nuts added, which were definitely not on the original request list!).
Most of the qualities that he had requested were easy enough to match. I started by making my favorite oatmeal cookies and added the cranberries and white chocolate chips, but I found that the texture was definitely too “oaty” (I spent a long time pondering over this word, and have resolved to now leave myself better notes moving forward).
I wanted chewier cookies that complemented the abundance of add-ins that are included here without competing against them. I like a cookie with texture, but my first few batches were definitely too much and almost seemed like I was biting into a granola bar rather than a cookie.
I finally found the perfect way to include oats by pulverizing them in my food processor for a few seconds before stirring them into the dough.
This gave the cookies a perfect texture — you won’t want to process them to pure powder, but add them to your food processor and just pulse for about five seconds until they’re mostly broken up (finer than instant oats, but not completely pulverized, see the picture above).
Make sure that you chill this cookie dough before baking. Chilling will keep your cookies from spreading too thin, I like to chill them and then bake on 375 (as opposed to 350, which is the temperature I use for many of my cookies) for thick, fat cookies.
Chilling also gives the flavors a bit of time to begin to really meld together, there’s a small amount of cinnamon sprinkled into the dough that gives these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies a subtle spice.
Can I just say that I know I’m getting way ahead of myself right now, but I really think these would make great Christmas cookies. Make them today, but make sure you save the recipe for the upcoming holidays, too!
Enjoy!
Just a heads-up that I’ll be going Live on my Facebook page at 12:00 EST tomorrow and would love it if you could join me! Thank you to everyone who tuned in for last week’s Live where I had my special guest, Andi — I’m hoping I can convince her to help me again this week!
White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (200 g) old fashioned rolled oats measure before processing in food processor
- 1 cup (216 g) butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar tightly packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup (218 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch cornflour in UK
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ¼ cup (212 g) premium white chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cup (200 g) dried cranberries or Craisins
Instructions
- Place your oats in a food processor and pulse about 5-10 seconds. Set aside.2 ½ cups (200 g) old fashioned rolled oats
- Beat butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or using an electric beater) for about 30 seconds. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy (pause to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, if needed).1 cup (216 g) butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.2 large eggs
- Stir in vanilla extract1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.1 ¾ cup (218 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture until completely combined. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl so ingredients are well-mixed.
- Gradually stir in oats until completely combined. Add white chocolate chips and cranberries and stir well.1 ¼ cup (212 g) premium white chocolate chips, 1 ¼ cup (200 g) dried cranberries or Craisins
- Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
- Drop cookie by rounded 2 Tablespoon-sized ball onto parchment paper, spacing at least 2" apart.
- Bake on 375F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden brown (centers may still seem slightly underbaked, they'll finish cooking as they cool on the cookie sheet)
- Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before serving and enjoying.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
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Chrystal
The first time I made them, I didn’t accidentally skipped the part where you grind the oats in a food processor, and they were ok.
The second time brought them to a whole new level, I’m glad I gave it a second try. These are amazing. I added some orange rind this last time, but it’s the only tweak I make, and that’s saying something because I’m the queen of tweak lol
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Chrystal! 🙂
Terri T
Amazing! I hate the texture of oatmeal cookies but make them for my oatmeal cookie loving husband. Pulverizing the oats is genius! I’m a convert!
I used Ghirardelli chips, but next time I’ll use GV. Ghirardelli, while delicious in taste, melted a little too much. I like it better when the chips have a little bite to them.
Sue-Ann
I love your recipes. I have been using them for over 4 yrs. The lasagna is the best and your white
Chocolate chip cranberry oatmeal
Cookies are divine. You are my GO TO for many different food groups
Sam
Thank you so much, Sue-Ann! I’m so glad you have enjoyed everything so much! 🙂
Tera
Absolutely a fav!
Carol Louis
This is such a great cookie and so easy to make. This is my new go to cookie.
Jean
everyone loved these cookies!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Jean!
Miriam
This is one of my favorite Christmas cookies to make. Not difficult and delicious!
Hannah
Great recipe! Highly recommend adding nuts.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Hannah! 🩷
Susan
These look delicious and I’m about to get started. If I wanted to add orange zest, do you think 1 tbsp would be sufficient? Thanks for such great recipes!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should work! Let us know how it goes for you, Susan 😊
Lynn C.
Nice recipe!
I cut the cinnamon in half and cut the cranberries to one cup and soaked the cranberries in hot water and then drained them and chopped them.
The temperature in this recipe is too high. My first batch nearly burned after only 10 minutes. I baked at 360 for 12 minutes. 35 cookies with medium cookie scoop.
Sam
I’m glad you ultimately enjoyed them, Lynn! It sounds like your oven may be running a tad hot if they were burning, but I’m glad you were able to adjust it. 🙂
Jo Draper
Made an other Christmas cookies for office party….they were horrible! Then I found your site omg your recipes is how I love to follow a recipe all I can say thank you. I was looking and found you and made these and they were a hit. I have a tough crowd lol( teachers). Thank you Merry Christmas.
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Jo! Merry Christmas! 🙂
Terri
Hi, Sam!
I love the idea of adding macadamia nuts to this recipe as another reviewer said they had. If adding nuts of any kind, what amount would you recommend? If added, would the amount of other add-ins need to be adjusted?
Sam
Hi Terri! I would use 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup craisins, and a heaping half cup of chopped nuts. Enjoy! 🙂
Judy
These were absolutely delicious! My son asked my daughter in law to make some cookies with the craisins he had purchased. She found your recipe, a blessing for all of us…and made them after our Thanksgiving meal yesterday. She added some chopped macadamia nuts. Oh my, I don’t even have the words to express how delicious they are.
She patted the dough on parchment paper in a sheet pan to chill. She cut them into squares after they were chilled and placed them on the
Cookie sheet to bake. Perfection! Thank you for a great recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone en joyed them so much, Judy! 🙂
Alexine
can you make these without processing the oatmeal in a food processor? Thank you.
Sam
Hi Alexine! I think it could work. The texture of your cookies will probably be a bit different.
Emily
These are absolutely delicious and a perfect winter cookie recipe. I have made them a few times and love them!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Emily! 🙂