These chewy white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies with golden brown crispy edges are just what you needed after a long day. Use dairy free white chocolate to make these vegan and allergy friendly.
As a dietitian, I am always talking about eating more fruits and vegetables – but the occasional cookie fits into a healthy diet too! Baking cookies is one way that I love to decompress after a long day/week and I’ve included a few of my favorite cookie recipes on the blog before like these double chocolate cookies, peanut butter cookies, and these coconut apricot cookies.
It was about time that I shared a classic oatmeal cookie and I hope that you love these white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies as much as I do! We traveled to see family over the Christmas holiday and I brought along some of these cookies and they were a big hit. 🙂
Need more holiday recipe inspiration? Check out my roundup of vegan and vegetarian holiday recipes!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- These oatmeal cookies may be vegan, but you would never guess it! They taste just as delicious as a traditional oatmeal cookie made with butter and eggs. No vegan? Just use regular butter – it works too!
- Loaded with cranberries, oats, and chocolate chips so every bite has lots of add-ins.
- Makes a smaller batch of about 13 cookies – perfect for small families like ours! Feel free to double or triple the recipe if you’d like.
- This recipe is vegan, egg free, and dairy free.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- All Purpose Flour: use all purpose flour for these cookies. You can use whole wheat all purpose flour or a combination of whole wheat and all purpose.
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: using a combination of both sugars helps create a cookie with a chewy center and crisp edges.
- Vegan Butter: Make sure to use a vegan butter that comes in stick like dairy butter rather than a spread in a tub. The vegan butters that come in a tub/container create a cookie that spreads out too thin when baking. You can use regular dairy butter too if you don’t need to make these vegan.
- Oats: Use old fashioned rolled oats for these cookies for best results.
- Cranberries: Use dried cranberries for these cookies.
- White Chocolate Chips: If you want to make these vegan, look for a dairy free version of white chocolate chips. I like the ones from the brand Enjoy Life.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Variations
- Add nuts: Oatmeal cookies are delicious with nuts in them. My suggestions would be walnuts or pecans.
- Add a different dried fruit: try adding raisins or dried blueberries instead of cranberries.
- Use chocolate chips or mini chips: You can also add regular semi sweet chocolate chips to these cookies instead of white chocolate if you prefer. Mini chocolate chips (white or regular) work great in these!
Step by Step
Step One: Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and mix.
Step Two: Add the dry ingredients to a separate small mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually add to the mixer with the butter and sugar.
Step Three: Mix until dough forms. Add the oats, white chocolate chips, and dried cranberries. Mix just to distribute through the dough. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
Step Four: Add dough by heaping tablespoons onto a baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Expert Tips
- Measure your flour correctly: Measure your flour by scooping it out of the bag/container into the measuring cup and then leveling with a flat edge. If you use the measuring scoop to spoon the flour out of the bag, it packs it into the cup which can lead to dry muffins. No one wants those!
- Softening the butter: Allow butter to soften on the counter so that it makes an indent when gently pressed with your finger. Letting the butter soften a little makes it easier to mix with the sugars in the first step and it fluffs better.
- Chilling the dough: I’ve made this recipe both with chilling time and without. The cookies still bake well with no chilling time but spread a little thin. If you want a thick and chewy cookie like in the photos, chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking.
- Want perfectly round cookies? Use a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a large jar that is larger in diameter than your cookies. (You don’t want to actually cut the edges.) Reshape the cookies into a perfect circle by placing the cutter around the cookie and using a circling motion to reshape it. Make sure to do it when they are still warm immediately after pulling them out of the oven.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can either freeze the dough so you can thaw and bake these cookies later or you can freeze the cookies after baking. Store baked cookies in an airtight container or bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I would not recommend using fresh cranberries for these cookies. Fresh cranberries are very tart and would not work well as a replacement for dried cranberries.
Adding oats to cookies does offer some nutrients like extra fiber. However, oatmeal cookies do have quite a bit of sugar, so enjoy in moderation.
Did you love this recipe? Make sure to leave a ⭐️ rating and tag #dietitiandebbie on instagram!
White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, softened (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy milk (or any plant-based milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup vegan white chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add butter, brown sugar, and white sugar to a mixing bowl and mix with a stand mixer or handheld mixer until fluffy. Add the soy milk and vanilla and mix again to incorporate.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add to the butter/sugar mixture.
- Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and cranberries. Chill dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Add large rounded spoonfuls (about 2 tablespoons) of dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on pan before transferring to cooling rack.
Notes
- Vegan Butter: Make sure to use vegan butter sticks rather than a vegan butter that comes in a container. This recipe also works with dairy butter if you don’t want/need to make it vegan.
- Measure your flour correctly: Measure your flour by scooping it out of the bag/container into the measuring cup and then leveling with a flat edge.
- Chilling the dough: The cookies still bake well with no chilling time but they do spread a little. If you want a thick and chewy cookie like in the photos, chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking.
- Want perfectly round cookies? Use a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a large jar that is larger in diameter than your cookies. (You don’t want to actually cut the edges.) Reshape the cookies into a perfect circle by placing the cutter around the cookie and using a circling motion to reshape it. Make sure to do it when they are still warm immediately after pulling them out of the oven.
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Made these tonight and the teenagers loved them! The pomegranates really pop. Was hard to tell when they were finished and I overcooked them a bit–and they still were yummy! The cookies were all eaten within 5 minutes.
Awesome recipe. Made it several times and always a hit!!
Yay! So glad to hear that! 🙂
Can these be made to eat as raw cookie dough without the egg and hold up pretty well in the freezer? I am interested in trying to make my own “blizzards” with frozen, plain greek yogurt.
Hi Alicia, I haven’t tested the recipe out without the eggs, but I am guessing you might need to add a vegan egg to help it bind together? (A vegan egg is 1 tablespoon ground flax or chia seeds and 3 tablespoons warm water.) If you do make those blizzards, let me know! They sound yummy!
I must find out how to make almond flour so I can make these cookies,they looks yummy.
Loving the addition of pomegranate to these cookies.. they look so sweet and delicious!
LOVE the idea of throwing pomegranate seeds into the cookies! I bet it gives such a lovely burst of flavor.
Sounds perfect and pomegranites are so juicy right now!
What great flavor combos! I’ve been a huge pomegranate fan this year too 🙂
I also want to experiment more with different flours, especially gluten-free. I don’t use pomegranate enough – this looks delicious!
Haven’t tried pomegranate seeds in cookies yet. Sounds amazing!
Beautiful pictures!! I’ve never really eaten pomegranate seeds before but I know I love the juice. Totally pinning!
I just pinned these! I’ve wondered about baking with pom seeds before and have never tried… now I have a great excuse! 🙂
Ah! These look delightful! I will definitely be making these sometimes soon!