White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Created On: December 29, 2022 | By Debbie | 15 Comments

These chewy white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies with golden brown crispy edges are just what you needed after a long day. Use dairy free white chocolate to make these vegan and allergy friendly.

As a dietitian, I am always talking about eating more fruits and vegetables – but the occasional cookie fits into a healthy diet too! Baking cookies is one way that I love to decompress after a long day/week and I’ve included a few of my favorite cookie recipes on the blog before like these double chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, and these coconut apricot cookies.

It was about time that I shared a classic oatmeal cookie and I hope that you love these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies as much as I do! We traveled to see family over the Christmas holiday and I brought along some of these cookies and they were a big hit. 🙂

Table of Contents

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

These oatmeal cookies may be vegan, but you would never guess it! They taste just as delicious as a traditional oatmeal cookie made with butter and eggs. No vegan? Just use regular butter – it works too!
Loaded with cranberries, oats, and chocolate chips so every bite has lots of add-ins.
Makes a smaller batch of about 13 cookies – perfect for small families like ours! Feel free to double or triple the recipe if you’d like.
This recipe is vegan, egg free, and dairy free.

Ingredients You’ll Need

oatmeal cookie ingredients in small bowls with labels.

All Purpose Flour: use all purpose flour for these cookies. You can use whole wheat all purpose flour or a combination of whole wheat and all purpose.
Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: using a combination of both sugars helps create a cookie with a chewy center and crisp edges.
Vegan Butter: Make sure to use a vegan butter that comes in stick like dairy butter rather than a spread in a tub. The vegan butters that come in a tub/container create a cookie that spreads out too thin when baking. You can use regular dairy butter too if you don’t need to make these vegan.
Oats: Use old fashioned rolled oats for these cookies for best results.
Cranberries: Use dried cranberries for these cookies.
White Chocolate Chips: If you want to make these vegan, look for a dairy free version of white chocolate chips. I like the ones from the brand Enjoy Life.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Variations

Add nuts: Oatmeal cookies are delicious with nuts in them. My suggestions would be walnuts or pecans.
Add a different dried fruit: try adding raisins or dried blueberries instead of cranberries.
Use chocolate chips or mini chips: You can also add regular semi sweet chocolate chips to these cookies instead of white chocolate if you prefer. Mini chocolate chips (white or regular) work great in these!

Step by Step

butter and sugars creamed together in mixing bowl.

Step One: Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and mix.

whisk together dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl.

Step Two: Add the dry ingredients to a separate small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually add to the mixer with the butter and sugar.

cookie dough with cranberries and white chocolate chips in mixing bowl.

Step Three: Mix until dough forms. Add the oats, white chocolate chips, and dried cranberries. Mix just to distribute through the dough. Chill dough for 30 minutes.

spooned cookie dough on baking sheet before baking.

Step Four: Add dough by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

Expert Tips

Measure your flour correctly: Measure your flour by scooping it out of the bag/container into the measuring cup and then leveling with a flat edge. If you use the measuring scoop to spoon the flour out of the bag, it packs it into the cup which can lead to dry muffins. No one wants those!
Softening the butter: Allow butter to soften on the counter so that it makes an indent when gently pressed with your finger. Letting the butter soften a little makes it easier to mix with the sugars in the first step and it fluffs better.
Chilling the dough: I’ve made this recipe both with chilling time and without. The cookies still bake well with no chilling time but spread a little thin. If you want a thick and chewy cookie like in the photos, chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking.
Want perfectly round cookies? Use a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a large jar that is larger in diameter than your cookies. (You don’t want to actually cut the edges.) Reshape the cookies into a perfect circle by placing the cutter around the cookie and using a circling motion to reshape it. Make sure to do it when they are still warm immediately after pulling them out of the oven.

close up of one white chocolate oatmeal cookie that has been broken in half.

Recipe FAQs

Can I freeze these cookies?

Yes, you can either freeze the dough so you can thaw and bake these cookies later or you can freeze the cookies after baking. Store baked cookies in an airtight container or bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Can I add fresh cranberries instead of dried cranberries?

I would not recommend using fresh cranberries for these cookies. Fresh cranberries are very tart and would not work well as a replacement for dried cranberries.

How healthy are oatmeal cookies?

Adding oats to cookies does offer some nutrients like extra fiber. However, oatmeal cookies do have quite a bit of sugar, so enjoy in moderation.

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