White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
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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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I haven’t tried this recipe yet but am looking forward to. I have been looking for a cranberry cookie recipe for while. I have reviewed many similar recipes and have not found one that specifies if you are using sweetened or unsweetened dried cranberries. Your recipes are always so well written and seem to always answer those little details. Can you comment please and thank you.
Thank you so much, Carol! I hope you love these cookies! I used sweetened dried cranberries when I made them. 🙂
Hi SSR,
Thank you for all the yummy cookie recipes. Can you freeze the cookie dough for this recipe in advance?
Thank you.
Hi Erica! Yes you can. We recommend following the instructions in our post on how to freeze cookie dough.
This is the second time I’ve made these cookies. They’ve come out perfect both times.
My family and neighbors love them. Thanks Sam
You’re welcome, Cindy! I’m so glad everyone enjoys them so much! 🙂
I appreciate the measurements in the directions. These were delicious!
I made these for a cookie exchange and they were the clear winners for best cookie.
The texture and balance of flavors are perfect! I might try them with chocolate chips, but they’re perfection as they are!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Heather! 🙂
I made these today, and they came out great. I will be using these cookies in my
gift box for friends, and great Hostess gift. Love them, easy to preop, simple, and
outcome, a great cookie.
Thank you for sharing.
I have a VERY similar recipe that is my holiday “GO TO” for cookies. Everyone loves them! They are called Hooty Creeks. I plan to give yours the taste test…we shall see😁
I love the name! I hope you love these, Leisa!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I’ve made these a few times now and they always come out delicious. Just a couple of my personal tips to share or add… you can make these into cookie mounds, then freeze, bag up and keep frozen as needed. Also, I like to moisten my cranberries (also any raisins in my recipes) before adding. Thanks 😊
We’re so happy the recipe is a hit for you, Fran! ❤️
I just made this recipe to use some dried cranberries that I had bought for the holidays. This recipe was delicious and I shared it with some friends. Thank you for sharing all your tips to making these delicious cranberry white chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.
Wonderful! We’re so happy you enjoyed the cookies 😊
Hi Sam,
I’ve made these and they’re delicious! I’m looking forward to making them again. I know your recipes typically call for unsalted butter. This recipe doesn’t specify unsalted butter, and I don’t see any notes or comments where you’ve stated which to use. Will you please confirm if unsalted or salted butter is preferred for this recipe? Thank you.
Hi Diane! I’m so sorry for the confusion. I will make sure to update that. You should use unsalted butter here. 🙂
I made this recipe for Christmas cookies. I wanted to adapt into a bar cookie. 350? About 30 mins?
Hi Margaret! Yes 350 would be the correct temperature. I’m not sure on a bake time. In a 9 x 13 I would check them at 30 minutes. 🙂
Can one minute oats be used for this recipe?
Hi Whitney! I haven’t tried it with quick oats. I suppose they could work. They may need a few less pulses in the food processor and may not yield quite the exact same texture but they should still work. 🙂
Have made these the original way and also with different combos of dried fruit, toasted nut and toasted coconut. I just keep the add ins equal to the 2.5 c of cranberries and choc chips the original recipe. They’re always winners! Thanks, I love this recipe.
Tried the original recipe and love love it. Trying to make this gluten free now. Would I be able to substitute the all purpose flour with the same amount of almond flour?
Hi Tiffany! We’re honestly not sure how almond flour would work here. A 1:1 gluten-free flour blend might be the better option. Either way, let us know how it goes 😊
Hi SSR
Made these twice, once as described in recipe (wonderful) and the other day with dark chocolate. Also wonderful.
Thanks Sam.
Thanks for using our recipe and letting us know how it turned out for you (both ways!), Jim! Enjoy your cookies ❤️
Any chance fresh pitted cherries can be used in place of the dried cranberries?
I haven’t tried it. I think the cherries could work, but I’m not sure. They could end up being a little too juicy, which I hope isn’t the case. Let me know how it goes if you do try it. 🙂