Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are loaded with tart cranberries, crunchy oatmeal, and aromatic spice for a perfect fall-inspired treat or anytime snack. If you love crispy edges and soft chewy centers these are the cookies for you!

There is nothing like the aroma of cookies wafting through the house as they bake in the oven. It's home, childhood, and comfort all at once.

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I love a good cookie. Especially ones that are crispy or just the right amount of chewy with a bit of spice and sweetness. So, these oatmeal cookies tick all the boxes for me.

Jump to:

• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• My Top Tips
• Substitutions & Variations
• Equipment
• Make-Ahead & Storage
• More Delicious Treats
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

With just a few simple ingredients and basic steps, these delicious chewy cranberry oatmeal cookies are made in just a few minutes.

Plus, I have all the details on what ingredients you need, baking tips on getting the right consistency, and even ideas on customizing your cookies with nuts, chocolate, or other delicious things that make cookies special.

Why This Recipe Works

If you are looking for the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe that makes a cookie with a chewy texture, this easy recipe is the one you need. It has the correct proportion of butter to dry ingredients to make a dough that produces a cookie that is toothsome and chewy with crispy edges. 

There are recipes that contain "special" or "secret" ingredients to make a chewy cookie. I've seen recipes with bread flour, fructose sugar, and extra egg yolks to achieve a chewy cookie but this is not necessary. You can make a chewy cookie with only simple ingredients and basic techniques.

Making the Dough

I prefer to make this dough with a stand mixer, which easily does the work of creaming. But you can make the cookie dough by hand with a hand mixer or wooden spoon. It will take a little longer but you can still get a good result.

Making the cookie dough in this recipe can be thought of as 3 major steps: cream, mix, and fold. It is made using the creaming method, butter and sugar are beaten well until they are light in color and fluffy in texture, followed by eggs and vanilla. Dry ingredients are sifted together and mixed into the creamed wet ingredients and oats and plumped cranberries are folded in as the last addition.

Then the dough is scooped, made into small balls, or simply dropped from a spoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

Baking the Cookies

I've tried baking these cookies at a variety of temperatures and found that they must be baked in a moderate-low oven of 350°F/177°C to get a chewier texture and not be underbaked. The trick is to have the oven hot enough to cook the cookies so they spread and brown, but do not dry out.

Baking at the right temperature for around 10 minutes yields a cookie that puffs up as it bakes, then flattens as it cools. The edges should be barely golden brown and crispy. The center will be soft, chewy with every bite, and sure to make you smile. These all-time favorite cookies never disappoint!

So, let's bake!

Ingredients

Here's what you need these Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies:

Creamed (Wet) Ingredients

• Butter - You will need 2 sticks at room temperature. I prefer to use unsalted butter, but you can use salted butter too. You can use any brand but do not use European or Irish butter in these cookies. The fat content is too high and they will not spread properly.
• Light Brown Sugar - Light brown sugar will bring a soft caramel flavor to the cookie and adds moisture to make chewy cookies.
• White Granulated Sugar - White sugar rounds out the sweetness of the dough in combination with the brown sugar. Do not substitute.
• Eggs - This recipe calls for large eggs. Use good-quality eggs from vegetarian-fed hens to get the best flavor.
• Vanilla Extract - I prefer to use pure vanilla extract but you can use imitation too.

Dry Ingredients

• All-Purpose Flour - All you need is simple all-purpose flour for this recipe.
• Baking Soda - Baking soda will make the cookie dough rise and lighten the texture of the cookie.
• Ground Cinnamon - Oatmeal cookies just wouldn't taste right without the warm sweet flavor of ground cinnamon. I use 1 ½ teaspoons, but you can increase it to 2 teaspoons if you want a bigger punch of cinnamon.
• Salt - A small amount of salt will make the sweetness of the cookie taste even better. I use plain salt from the round blue box because the measure is consistent for baking.

Fold Ins

• Old Fashioned Oats - You can use any type of cut oats in this classic cookie. Types you can use include old-fashioned oats, rolled oats, steel-cut oats, quick oats, and instant oats.
• Dried Sweetened Cranberries - Dried cranberries are sold in packages containing chopped cranberries or whole cranberries. My preference is to use whole cranberries to get a nice burst of chewy, sweet-tart fruit.

Plus, you will also need hot water to soften and plump the cranberries.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preheat and Prepare. Preheat oven to 350°F/177C and line large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Plump. Put dried cranberries in a small bowl and add hot water to cover them. Let them plump for at least 15 minutes. Drain them well and remove excess moisture with a paper towel. Set aside for later.

Cream. In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together on medium speed for 5 minutes until they are light in color and fluffy.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue to beat until all is well incorporated.

Sift and Mix. Sift together the flour, soda, cinnamon, and salt onto a piece of parchment paper. Reduce speed to low, add the sifted dry ingredients, and mix just until they are incorporated.

Fold. Add the oats and dried cranberries and fold them in on low speed until they are well distributed throughout the dough. 

Scoop Dough. Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop balls of cookie dough 2 inches apart on the parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the cookies have risen and have golden brown edges.

Remove from oven and let the baked cookies cool for one minute on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

My Top Tips

♡ All ingredients must be at room temperature when you begin mixing the dough. Once I decide I am making these cookies on a particular day, I set the butter out early to come to room temperature. The butter needs to be very soft, but not melted for the dough to come together properly.

♡ A cookie scoop is a great tool to quickly drop the dough onto the baking sheet and to make every cookie the same size.

Substitutions & Variations

You can add up to ½ cup of an additional "fold-in" ingredient when you add the cranberries and oats, or if you reduce the dried cranberries to 1 cup you can add 1 cup. Here are some great ideas:

• Chocolate Chips. Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate is a great addition to this cookie. You can substitute chocolate chips for all or some of the dried cranberries.
• Raisins. Instead of dried cranberries, you can use raisins which is a traditional ingredient for oatmeal cookies. Consider golden raisins which have a softer flavor.
• Dark Brown Sugar. You can use dark brown sugar in place of light brown sugar for a bigger punch of caramel flavor.
• Chopped Pecans. Nuts add a nice crunch and pecans have a mild sweet flavor that is perfect with the cinnamon in this cookie.
• Chopped Walnuts. Walnuts have a slight bitterness that can balance some of the sweetness in this cookie.
• White Chocolate Chips. If you love white chocolate this is a great choice in this cookie. Add a cup of white chocolate chips and reduce the dried cranberries to 1 cup.
• Shredded Coconut. If you love coconut this is an excellent addition to this cookie. Shredded coconut can burn so add only ½ cup.
• Toffee Bits. To boost the toffee flavor add toffee bits, but no more than ½ cup.

Equipment

For the best results, I prefer to use a stand mixer with the paddle attachment which creams the butter and sugar easily.

However, you can also use a hand mixer or the mix-by-hand method. These methods will take a little longer to mix the dough, but still make great cookies.

I also use a cookie scoop which really helps to make equal size balls of dough. The scoop I use is a #60 scoop which holds 1 tablespoon.

Make-Ahead & Storage

These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature or frozen for up to 1 month.

More Delicious Treats

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