These white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies are soft, chewy, and easy to make! A great cookie to enjoy during the holidays or anytime throughout the year.
Do you have a go-to cookie recipe that you know will always turn out well? These white chocolate oatmeal craisin cookies are one of those recipes for me. This is a family cookie recipe that my mom has been making at Christmastime for years. However, this is a great cookie to make all year round!
Not only is this an easy cookie recipe to make, these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies are full of so many great ingredients! White chocolate chips, craisins, oatmeal, walnuts…oh my!
This white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe makes soft and chewy cookies that have a slightly crispy exterior. They also strike that perfect balance of being sweet but not too sweet.
Create the perfect holiday cookie tray by pairing these delicious White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies with Snickerdoodles (without Cream of Tartar), Cherry Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, and Chewy Triple Ginger Cookies. Check out my ‘Cookies & Bars’ section under ‘Desserts’ in the recipe library for even more delicious cookie ideas to add!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Level of difficulty: Easy. Standard measuring, mixing, scooping, and baking required.
Flavor: The flavors of the oatmeal, craisins, and walnuts all pop with each bite.
Texture: Soft and chewy with a slightly crispy exterior.
Time: Including prep and cook time, plan for about 1 hour to make your white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies. This assumes you’re baking one cookie sheet at a time. I like to keep things moving by getting my first sheet of cookies into the oven, and then continuing to prep my other cookie sheets while the first batch of cookies is baking.
Bonus: Another reason I love this cookie recipe is because it is forgiving. Don’t have the exact measurements of white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, or nuts in your pantry? No worries. Want to leave out the nuts all together? Totally fine.
Ingredients Needed
White Chocolate Chips: Use your favorite while chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate.
Oatmeal: Use your favorite old fashioned rolled oats (NOT instant oats) to make this cookie recipe. I advocate for old fashioned oats in pretty much all of my bakes because the texture is so much better.
Craisins: This cookie recipe is made with dried cranberries, also known as craisins. You can purchase regular or lower-sugar versions for this recipe, both will taste great!
Walnuts: While the nuts are optional in this recipe, they add great texture and flavor to this cookie. Plus, walnuts are a good source of fiber, protein, and antioxidants…so including them makes this a healthier cookie, right?
TIP: Using room temperature eggs is often suggested for baking because the eggs will incorporate into the softened butter easier. This results in a smooth, uniform batter. If you’re setting your eggs out on the counter to bring them up to room temperature, the standard rule of thumb is to set them out for at least 30 minutes prior to using them.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Variations and Substitutions
- Use a different nut. Not into walnuts? Try pecans instead!
- Skip the nuts all together. Don’t have, or don’t like, nuts in your baked goods? Simple skip this ingredient.
- Add cinnamon. My family has never had cinnamon as a part of this family recipe, however, it would be a wonderful addition! Add ½ – 1 teaspoon into your dough along with the other dry ingredients.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F and get your cookie sheets ready (and by ready, I mean out and set to the side; no greasing necessary).
Step 2: Add softened butter and both sugars to your mixing bowl.
Step 3: Cream the butter and sugars together until well combined. The mixture should look pale yellow and fluffy. It will also be a little grainy because of the granulated sugar.
Step 4: Then add the remaining liquid ingredients (the egg and vanilla extract), and stir to combine.
Step 5: Slowly add the dry ingredients (the baking soda, salt, and flour) and mix until a dough forms.
Step 6: Add the white chocolate chips, craisins, walnuts, and oatmeal to the dough.
Step 7: Mix until thoroughly distributed throughout the cookie dough.
Step 8: Drop dough in rounded tablespoons onto your cookie sheet. Spacing your dough balls about 2” apart.
Step 9: Bake each sheet of white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies for 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are browned slightly.
Step 10: Transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store cooled cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Possible Dietary Restrictions?
This white chocolate oatmeal craisin cookies recipe is vegetarian as written. One small modification is needed to a gluten-free cookie recipe:
- To make this into a gluten free crinkle cookie recipe, try replacing the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe with a one-to-one gluten free flour alternative. Note: I have not done this myself, but have used this one-to-one gluten free flour alternative successfully in other bakes.
- If serving to someone with celiac disease, be sure to purchase certified gluten-free rolled oats! It would also be wise to verify the white chocolate chips purchased are also gf.
Expert Tips⠀
Get Your Cookies to All Be the Same Size by Using a Cookie Scoop!
While not a necessity, a cookie scoop is a super helpful tool that I use a lot in my kitchen. I like to use a small cookie scoop for this oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies recipe. This is probably the cookie scoop I use most often when making cookies (it’s what I use for Peanut Butter Blossoms and Death by Chocolate Cookies too!).
If you love those extra large bakery-style cookies, you can use a large cookie scoop. If you do this, you will need to add a few minutes to your baking time.
Get Your Cookies to be Perfectly Round with “The Cookie Scoot”
When you pull your cookies out of the oven, use a circular cookie cutter (or a round glass larger than your cookie) to gently “scoot” your cookies in a circular motion to help shift the edges and create perfectly round cookies.
Recipe FAQs
While oatmeal is a great source of many vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, and add a healthy aspect to your cookies, they are still cookies. Oatmeal cookies may be a healthier choice than other cookies, but again, they are still cookies. Healthy is also subjective… make the best decisions for you.
Oats are rich in fiber, increasing the fiber content of oatmeal cookies compared to other types of cookies.
While you likely could, I have only used dried cranberries for this cookie recipe. If you choose to try using fresh cranberries, please note that fresh cranberries will release their juices when baking which will increase the moisture content of the cookie. This could effect the baking time required. With an increased moisture content, the ratio of dry ingredients may need to change as well. This potential modified baking time and varied ingredient ratio has not been accounted for in this recipe.
Old-fashioned rolled oats will give your cookies the best texture. In a pinch, quick-cooking oats will also work (but the texture will not be quite as nice). It would not be recommended to use instant oatmeal or steel cut oats for baking cookies.
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White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 C butter softened
- 1 C granulated sugar
- 1 C brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 C old fashioned oats
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1, 12 oz package white chocolate chips
- 1.5 C craisins aka dried cranberries
- 1.5 C chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C)
- Cream butter and sugars together until smooth
- Stir in the eggs and vanilla until well combined
- Add the baking soda, salt & flour (½ C at a time) and mix until dough is formed
- Stir in the white chocolate chips, craisins, walnuts & oatmeal until mixed throughout the dough
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons about 2″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15mins until edges are browned slightly
- Remove from the oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, store in an air-tight container
Notes
- Use a different nut. Not into walnuts? Try pecans instead!
- Skip the nuts all together. Don’t have, or don’t like, nuts in your baked goods? Simple skip this ingredient.
- Add cinnamon. My family has never had cinnamon as a part of this family recipe, however, it would be a wonderful addition! Add ½ – 1 teaspoon into your dough along with the other dry ingredients.
Brandon H says
The oats were a real treat in this recipe. They really add a sense of depth to the white chocolate and cranberries. Very good.
Meredith says
I love a good, chewy oat cookie too! Glad you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
Amanda says
I whipped these up in 10 minutes, they turned out PERFECT! They check all the texture boxes
ourlovelanguageisfood says
yes, they’re a quick and easy cookie for sure – I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed them!! Thank you for making my recipe!