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5 from 1 vote

Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Chilling time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 18
Calories: 322kcal
Author: Cari

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • Juice of half an orange
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups old-fashioned whole rolled oats
  • 1 cup of dried cranberries
  • 1 cup of white chocolate chips or chunks

Notes

Variations and Substitutions for these chewy oatmeal cookies

Don't have old-fashioned oats? You can use quick oats or instant oats instead. 
Want traditional oatmeal cookies? omit the white chocolate, orange juice and orange zest and swap the dried cranberries for dries raisins
No a fan of white chocolate? Make dark chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies instead by replacing the white chocolate chips with dark chocolate. 
Don't want to wait for your dough to chill for 45 minutes? pop the scooped cookie dough into the freezer for 10 minutes instead.
Don't want big cookies? Instead of using an ice cream scoop, use a smaller cookie scoop instead. This will require you bake the cookies for less time and will yield more cookies.

Storage for these chewy oatmeal cranberry cookies 

unbaked cookie dough storage

I'm a big fan of making a big batch of cookie dough and freezing the bulk of the dough in order to have fresh baked cookies whenever I want. This is my process for freezing cookie dough:
  1. Using your ice cream scoop, scoop out your cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.
  2. Chill the scooped cookie dough balls in the freezer for 20 minutes.
  3. Remove the cookie dough from the freezer and place the cold cookie dough balls into a freezer safe zip-top bag.
  4. The cookie dough will keep in a freezer bag inside the freezer for up to 2 months.
  5. When it’s time to bake the cookies, bake them for two-three minutes longer since the dough is frozen. 
  6. Don't have light brown sugar? Use dark brown sugar or make your own brown sugar by combining 1 cup of white sugar with one tablespoon of molasses. 

baked cookie storage

To store your baked cookies, place them in an airtight container. They will keep at room temperature for up-to 3 days.

tips

  • Use fresh and good quality ingredients.
  • Measure the flour correctly. If you pack in too much flour, these cookies will puff up and be dry, rather than soft and chewy. Spoon flour into the measuring cup and level with the back of a butter knife.
  • For the perfectly round cookie, the minute the cookies come out of oven, use the largest biscuit cutter you have or the opening of large round cup if the cookies are too big (anything round and wider than your cookies) Place the biscuit cutter over the cookies on the hot cookie sheet and move your hand in a circular motion for about 10 seconds.
  • Leave ample room on the baking sheet. These cranberry oatmeal cookies do tend to spread a bit in the oven! Be sure to leave at least 2 inches between each cookie before placing in the oven