White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

White chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies top the list of easy desserts that are so filling you’ll think you ate more than your fair share. A type of cookie called a drop cookie, the dough is dropped by spoonfuls onto baking sheets and then you slide the cookies into the oven to bake. They’re that simple!

Staple cookie ingredients and old-fashioned oats form the chewy base, and baking chips and dried fruit add pops of sweetness and texture. There’s already a lot to these cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies (in the name alone!), but you can make them even more bountiful with chopped pistachios or toasted pecans.

Ingredients for White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

• Butter and brown sugar: Combining butter and sugar until they’re light and fluffy takes far longer than most people think, but knowing how to cream butter and sugar the right way changes flat, chewy cookies into attractively mounded ones. A powerful stand mixer wins the creaming speed contest, but expect to spend five to seven minutes with a hand mixer, plus another three to five minutes with a wooden spoon or fork.
• Eggs: For the best results, beat in the eggs one at a time. Continue mixing until the butter and sugar return to the smooth state you achieved when creaming.
• All-purpose flour: Save the fancy flours for special uses, like soft bread loaves and delicate cakes. Of all the different types of flour, all-purpose does the job when it comes to these cookies.
• Old-fashioned oats: This recipe for oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies calls for old-fashioned (or rolled) oats. These oats give the cookies a slightly chewy texture and strong oat taste.
• Baking soda: Baking soda makes these cookies both lofty and slightly crispy. Baking soda reacts strongly enough with the acidity in brown sugar that the dough balls rise in the oven, a key difference between baking powder and baking soda.
• Cinnamon and salt: All the mix-ins in this cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies recipe—oats, baking chips and cranberries—let you dial back the spices. A smidgen each of cinnamon and salt bring out the lead flavors.
• White baking chips: Baking chips keep their shape better than bars, especially when it comes to white chocolate, which lacks cocoa solids. White chocolate’s distinctive taste pairs well with dried fruit and toasted nuts.
• Dried cranberries: If you fell in love with oatmeal raisin cookies as a kid, think of dried cranberries as a grownup twist. Their slight tartness balances the sweetness of the white chocolate.
• Chopped pecans: Unless you’re accommodating a nut allergy, be sure to add rich, crunchy pecans. For toasted pecans, use the oven, stovetop, microwave or even air fryer.

Directions

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.

Step 2: Mix in the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir in the chips, cranberries and, if desired, pecans until just combined.

Step 3: Bake the cookies

Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the pans to wire racks to cool.

Editor’s Tip: These oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies have enough fat in the dough that you don’t need to grease the baking sheets. If all the dough doesn’t fit in one oven batch and you need to bake a second batch, scrape any crumbs off the warm pans and quickly wipe the pans with a damp paper towel. This is one way to minimize excess grease, which is one of the reasons cookies fall flat.

TMB Studio

Recipe Variations

• Replace the cranberries: Return to the classic pairing of oatmeal and raisins or use golden raisins, which taste tangier but not as tart as cranberries. Or, experiment with other dried fruit, like dried cherries or chopped dried apricots.
• Use different chocolate: The right type of chocolate for baking depends on what you’re making and the effect you want to create. Good substitutes for the white baking chips in this recipe include milk or semisweet chocolate chips or, for decreased sweetness, use bittersweet chocolate.
• Add some zest: Cranberries play well with citrus fruit, so add 1/2 teaspoon grated orange or lemon zest for an extra pop—especially if you decide to leave out the nuts.

How to Store White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Let cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies cool completely before you pack them away to ensure they stay crisp over the next few days. Once cool, layer them in a lidded, airtight container. Piling them in a loose-lidded cookie jar is one of the most common cookie storage mistakes. To keep them from falling apart as they sit, lay parchment or waxed paper between the layers of cookies.

How long do white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies last?

Oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies can last up to four days if stored at room temperature in an airtight container. Drop cookies like these may last a couple of extra days if well sealed, but expect them to soften and become more crumbly over time. For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies—or the dough.

Can you freeze white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies?

Both the dough and the fully baked oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies will freeze well for up to eight months. Form the dough into balls, freeze them on a baking sheet until solid and then transfer them to a freezer-safe container for long-term storage. The dough can be baked from frozen; just add a couple of extra minutes on the timer.

Freeze baked and cooled cookies on a baking sheet before you pack them in an airtight container. Separate layers with parchment to make the cookies less crumbly and easier to separate when you want to eat them.

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Tips

TMB Studio

Can you use fresh cranberries instead of dried cranberries?

We don’t recommend this swap. Fresh or frozen cranberries lack the chewy texture of dried ones and release their juices as they cook. Just think about how juicy they get when you make fresh cranberry sauce. In cookies, all that extra moisture alters the density of the dough, so it’s best to stick with dried fruit.

If you do go the fresh route, try mixing in chopped frozen cranberries. Frozen cranberries will hold their juices longer and bleed less of their color into the dough.

Can you use quick-cooking oats for white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies?

You could substitute quick-cooking oats for the old-fashioned ones in this cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies recipe, but the oats will lack some texture and flavor. They’ve been precooked and undergone further processing, but in cookie dough they won’t turn completely to mush.

It’s best to avoid instant oats in cookies. These have been finely chopped and will turn soft and clumpy when mixed in dough and baked.

How do you get white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies to rise?

Baking soda leavens these oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies, and it needs to react to an acidic ingredient to do so effectively. Brown sugar provides the acid in this recipe, so the baking soda won’t be up to the task if you swap in white granulated sugar.

An expired leavening agent also has less oomph. Testing baking powder and soda confirms an old product isn’t making your cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies dense or flat.