White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are a classic favorite – soft, chewy oatmeal cookies packed with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
These oatmeal cookies are absolutely amazing – you can make them just plain or add raisins or chocolate chips, but I absolutely love them with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. A full tablespoon each of vanilla extract and cinnamon make these cookies so delicious – the flavor is incredible.
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST OATMEAL COOKIES:
After trying out multiple oatmeal cookie recipes over many years, I have picked up several important tips for making the absolute BEST Oatmeal Cookies!
- Make sure that you have enough flour in the dough. If the dough is too sticky, you may need to add a little bit of flour.
- Spend a little extra time when you mix the butter and sugars. Creaming them together for 2-3 minutes will improve the consistency of your cookies.
- Preheat the oven. This will help your cookies turn out right every time!
- Use a cookie scoop! If you want all your cookies to be perfectly shaped and have them all be the same size, a cookie scoop is the way to go.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Doing this will make it really easy to remove the cookies from your cookie sheet so that you don’t have to scrape them off the pan – they will just slide right off in perfect shape!
- Don’t over bake the cookies – when I take mine out of the oven, they still look slightly under baked but they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet for a couple more minutes so that’s ok!
WHAT KIND OF OATS ARE BEST IN OATMEAL COOKIES?
You can use quick oats or old-fashioned oats in your cookies- it really comes down to a personal preference. I really love using old-fashioned oats in this recipe, but it’s totally up to you and what type of oats you have in your pantry! If you use all quick oats, the cookies will end up being a little bit more dense and a little bit puffier. I like the texture of old-fashioned oats because it make the cookies a little bit chewier (and also like I am eating real oatmeal which makes it easier for me to justify eating a few of these for breakfast!). You can even use a combination of both types if you’d like!
INGREDIENTS IN WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
Flour – I use all-purpose flour in cookies, but cake flour works fine too. You can even swap some of it out with wheat flour if you want, but the taste and consistency will be different.
Cinnamon – You’ll need an entire tablespoon of ground cinnamon in this recipe, but don’t leave it out! The cinnamon pairs so well with the oats and gives these cookies so much flavor.
Baking soda and salt – Just make sure your baking soda isn’t old or expired!
Butter – You’ll need 3 sticks of butter in this recipe. Make sure to soften the butter before mixing with the sugars.
Brown sugar and granulated sugar– I always use light brown sugar, but you can use dark if you prefer. For best results, make sure the brown sugar is soft and fresh.
Eggs – You’ll need two large eggs to bind everything together and make the perfect cookies.
Vanilla extract – Yep, you’ll need an entire tablespoon of vanilla extract in this recipe too! You can use less if you want, but I promise you’ll love all the flavor. The higher the quality of the vanilla, the better!
Oats -I like old-fashioned oats in oatmeal cookies, but you can use quick oats instead.
White chocolate chips – One bag of white chocolate chips is just the right amount for the cookies – unless you want extra, in which case, just add some more!
Dried cranberries – Most often known as Craisins, the dried cranberries really make these cookies amazing.
HOW TO MAKE WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.
In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugars together for at least 2-3 minutes, until light and creamy.
Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the dry mixture and mix just until combined.
Stir in the oats, mixing just until they are fully incorporated in the dough.
Fold in the dried cranberries and the white chocolate chips, mixing just until barely combined. Do not overmix the dough after you have added the flour mixture!
Use a cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto prepared cookie sheets. I prefer to use silicone baking mats, but parchment paper or lightly greased cookie sheets work fine as well.
Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes, or until the edges just barely start to brown. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
HOW DO YOU SOFTEN BUTTER TO ROOM TEMPERATURE?
The best way to soften butter is to set it out for a few hours before you make your cookies. Since most of us (or maybe just me!) aren’t that prepared or don’t think that far in advance, there are a few tricks to softening butter perfectly in just a matter of minutes.
My favorite way to soften butter is in the microwave. It’s definitely fast, but you do have to be very careful not to melt it. Just put the whole stick of butter in the microwave (as long as it isn’t wrapped in foil!) and microwave for about 6-7 seconds. If the butter is still really cold, try another 5-7 seconds and check it again. You may need a few intervals, and if the butter is starting to feel soft, you can shorten the final interval to just a few seconds to make sure it doesn’t start melting.
I actually prefer to use the defrost setting on my microwave – I don’t know exactly what that mode does differently, and it takes a little bit longer (closer to 30 seconds), but it seems to be easier to get the butter to soften without melting.
WHY DO MY OATMEAL COOKIES BURN ON THE BOTTOM BUT AREN’T DONE IN THE MIDDLE?
If your cookies are always burning on the bottom, it is probably a cookie sheet issue! If you are using really dark cookie sheets, the bottoms of your baked goods will tend to burn before they are actually cooked all the way through. If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored non-stick pans so that I don’t have to use cooking spray at all. As mentioned above, I have been converted to silicone baking mats over the last couple of years and I love how easy it is for cookies to come off the tray – no sticking ever!
OTHER OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPES THAT WE LOVE!
- Fudgy Oatmeal Cookie Bars
- Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies
- White Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
- Microwave Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Toffee Oatmeal Cookies
- Blackberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Best Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Best Monster Cookies
- Banana Oatmeal Cookies
- Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies
A few weeks ago, we had the chance to spend a week on the beach in Panama City, Florida. It was amazing! A couple of my siblings were there with their families and it was so fun to watch all of the cousins playing on the beach. The weather was perfect and the water was warm and it was so wonderful to have a few days to relax and have a good time.
I was a little nervous about flying so far with a 2 year old but this little one absolutely loved the flights. Let me clarify that. She loves buckles these days and so she was absolutely obsessed with the seatbelt on the plane. I brought tons of snacks and activities to keep her occupied, and she spent about 90% of our flights opening and closing the seatbelt. It kept her happy though, so no complaints here!
Gina says
These are so soft and chewy! The PERFECT cookie 🙂
Ashley says
Easy and delicious. My kids love these!