White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Name: White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 32 min
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon sea salt; 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats; 1 cup butter (room temperature); 1 cup granulated sugar; 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1 tablespoon orange zest; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 1 large egg (room temperature); 1 cup dried cranberries; 3 ounces white chocolate (melted)

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Soft, chewy white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies. They're not overly sweet and so wholesome.

cookies close up drizzled with white chocolate next to bwol of cranberries

Why it works

This is the perfect mix of oatmeal, cranberries, orange, and white chocolate. It balances sweetness and wholesomeness in one delicious cookie.

My favorite part is that the cookies taste better the longer they rest. I love to let the cookie dough chill overnight so the flavors can fully infuse together. It makes them so incredibly good.

Most cookies will use white chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Which is great, but the white chocolate can overpower the cookies or make them too sweet. Instead, I finish the cookies with a light drizzle of white chocolate to complement rather than overtake.

We use just the right amount sugar to give the cookies sweetness without making them overly sweet. And just enough oats to keep it wholesome. The guilt for eating one or two at breakfast is low here.

Unlike most cookies, these don't dry out and they stay nice and soft and chewy for days.

Ingredients

Flour - To get the best structure, I recommend using all-purpose flour. White whole wheat flour might also be a suitable replacement, but I do not recommend using cake flour or bread flour. These cookies do lend themselves to a 1:1 gluten-free baking mix.
Oats - You should use old-fashioned oats only in this recipe. If you want, you can gently pulse the oats in a food processor once or twice to break them up slightly. Do not use instant or quick cooking oats.
Leavening - This cookie uses a touch of both baking powder and baking soda to make them puffy and soft.
Salt - I recommend using fine sea salt for the recipe. The salt help enhance all the flavors in the cookie and make them really come alive.
Butter - Unsalted butter is a must. The recipe doesn't work as well with butter substitutes like margarine. If you want to really take your cookies to the next level, add another ¼ cup and turn it into brown butter. Wait until the butter is cooled slightly and continue with the recipe.
Eggs - Use a large egg at room temperature. I like to leave my egg in a bowl of warm water to speed up the process.
Sugar - We use a mix of granulated sugar and a note of brown sugar for added depth. I like the mix, but if you do not have brown sugar, you can use more granulated sugar. If you don't want to miss out on that depth, you can add in a teaspoon of molasses if you have any available.
Mix-ins - To keep the list short, this includes our orange zest, cranberries, and vanilla. I recommend using your favorite type of orange - I like Cara Cara. Unsweetened dried cranberries are the best here, but if you can only find the sweetened version, that's okay, too. You can reduce the granulated sugar by ¼ cup. As always, use pure vanilla extract.
Chocolate - We obviously need white chocolate. I recommend using a white chocolate bar over chocolate chips. This is because white chocolate chips are very temperamental when melting.

scoops of cookie dough on tray on kitchen towel

Method

Putting together these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies is incredibly simple. They take just a few moments until they're ready for the oven!

Start by measuring out all your ingredients. Trust me, it makes your life so much easier when you have everything already measured out and at the right temperatures ready to go.
Mix together the dry ingredients except for the cranberries and set aside in a bowl.
Beat together the butter and sugars, along with the orange zest and vanilla. This helps to infuse them with the flavors.
Add in the egg and beat until everything gets light and fluffy.
Pour in the dry ingredients and mix, then fold in the cranberries. Stir well so the cranberries are evenly spread throughout the dough.
Chill your dough. It helps to infuse the flavors and gives us the perfect dough for baking with minimal spreading.
Portion out the dough and bake!
Once they're cooled, drizzle them with melted chocolate.

cookies on upside down baking tray and on parchment paper

Tips

Be careful measuring out the flour. I like to give my flour a quick fluff, then spoon the flour into a measuring cup. If you use too much flour, you will have trouble with the cookies not spreading properly during baking.

I can't emphasize this enough, but bring all the ingredients to room temperature. if you forget to take out the butter ahead of time, you can use my tips to soften butter quickly (hint, cutting the butter into small portions helps it soften faster).

Allowing the dough to rest not only infuses the dough with flavor, but also helps soften the oats for a delicious chewy texture.

Use a cookie scoop to measure out the dough. That way, they are all the same size. No need to roll or shape the dough after scooping.

The cookies may still look a little puffed in the center when you first take them out the oven. They should deflate once they've had a chance to cool a bit.

Once you've drizzled the white chocolate on top of the cookies, a nice sprinkling of orange zest adds a bit more oomph to the flavor.

close up showing details of cookie textures

F.A.Q.s

I can't find dried cranberries, can I use something else?

This recipe is great with other dried fruits, too! Cherries, blueberries, and raisins are all great! Just bear in mind, they might not be as delicious with the orange zest, so you can omit it if you want.

My cookies are too thick/puffy even after cooling!

It could be that you accidentally over measured the flour. Another reason could be that your fridge is super cold and the cookie dough didn't get a chance to spread out much in the oven. Try leaving the unbaked cookies at room temperature for about 5 - 10 minutes once you've portioned them out.

If you're a fan of these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies, try out my malted chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, s'mores cookies, blueberry oatmeal cookies, orange chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies.