oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies

SOFT AND CHEWY CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES

The traditional oatmeal cookie gets a festive makeover! These soft and chewy cranberry oatmeal cookies are a delicious holiday twist on the classic oatmeal raisin cookie. Cranberries give these oatmeal cookies a bit of bright color and slight tartness.

Perfect for any time of the year, but especially during the holiday season, these cookies would also be delicious with the addition of chopped pecans or walnuts. I’ll be trying that next week, when I make all of my Christmas cookies for gift giving.

INGREDIENTS IN THIS CRANBERRY WALNUT OATMEAL COOKIE RECIPE 

1. All purpose flour: the most versatile flour for making most baked goods, and a kitchen staple in my house.
2. Cinnamon: you only need a little bit of ground cinnamon. If you don’t have any it’s not a huge deal but I like the flavor it imparts in the cookies.
3. Baking soda: helps add lift to the cookies. It is not 100% interchangeable with baking powder, so please don’t make that substitution!
4. Kosher salt: I cook and bake with kosher salt almost exclusively because I find it allows me better control of the saltiness level in my food. I used Morton Kosher salt in this recipe, but you can also use Diamond Crystal. If you only have table salt or sea salt you can sub it in instead of kosher salt, but use a little less than half of the amount of salt the recipe calls for.
5. Dark brown sugar: adds rich flavor and helps to make a perfectly chewy cookie;
6. Granulated sugar: works with the dark brown sugar to bring that amazing sweetness to  oatmeal walnut cranberry cookies.
7. Butter, unsalted: it’s butter, it makes everything awesome. Remember to use softened butter at room temperature. The easiest way to do this is to set your butter out on the counter for an hour or so before making the oatmeal cranberry walnut cookie dough.
8. Egg: you only need one, and it should be at room temperature. Set it out when you set out your butter on your counter.
9. Vanilla extract: a little goes a long way, but it’ll add delicious flavor to your cookies.
10. Old fashioned oats: don’t buy steel cut oats, or instant oats. You want the texture that comes with old fashioned oats.
11. Dried cranberries: these are yummy and add a perfect amount of tartness cranberry and walnut cookies with oats.
12. Walnuts: I’ve recently fallen in love with walnuts – they’re super versatile and have a pretty mellow flavor that helps bring overall balance to the cookies.

HOW TO MAKE CHEWY CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES 

1. Measure and whisk the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl;
2. Cream butter and sugar in your stand mixer;
3. Add egg and vanilla and continue mixing;
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the mix;
5. Gently fold in oats, nuts and cranberries
6. Chill cookie dough for about 30 minutes;
7. Shape the cookie dough into equal sized balls: I’ll make a ball weighing about 35 grams and shape my remaining cookies to match;
8. Pop in the oven and bake for about 9 minutes. If you’re baking straight from frozen add about 2 minutes to your baking time.
9. Cool in a cooling rack and try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!

I’ve included the  full recipe for oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies below, but there’s a couple of tips you should be aware of before you start making these – most importantly, use a food scale to measure all your ingredients to ensure you’re getting the best results.

TIPS BEFORE YOU START

1. I’m going to repeat this again, because it’s incredibly important: you absolutely need a food scale when you’re planning to bake anything. I’ve included measurements in cups as well in case you don’t have a scale yet, but there’s so much variation when using measuring cups, I strongly recommend against it. If you don’t have a scale yet, what are you waiting for? They’re super cheap and are a must have in any kitchen. This is the scale I use and recommend – it’s cheap and works perfectly fine.
2. Make sure your butter and egg are at room temperature before you use them. Set them both out on your counter an hour or two before you plan to get started.
3. The recipe below has you mixing on medium-high. On my Kitchen Aid mixer, this is equivalent to speed 4.
4. To have equally sized cookies, use a cookie scoop like this one. Alternatively, you can use an ice cream scoop. I like smaller cookies (so I can pretend I’m eating healthy small portions), but you can easily make these whatever size you prefer.
5. Make sure you spread your cookies about 2 inches apart from each other and from the edges. I make smaller cookies that don’t spread too much, but you don’t want to end up with a large mess of cookies all spread together.
6. You can freeze the cookie dough for later. To freeze your cookies, follow all steps up to forming the cookies and placing them on a baking sheet. Stick the baking sheet in the freezer for about an hour, then transfer to a large ziploc bag or storage container. Make sure you label them with the date, baking temperature, and anything else you think you’ll need to know!

BAKING TOOLS FOR MAKING AWESOME OATMEAL WALNUT CRANBERRY COOKIES 

1. Scale: I don’t bake without a scale and neither should you. This scale is the one I have, it’s cheap and works great.
2. Measuring spoons: you’ll notice I measure the cinnamon, vanilla, salt and baking soda with a measuring spoon. Because these quantities are so small, it usually isn’t a big deal to measure this way instead of using a scale.
3. Mixing Bowls: I love a good set of mixing bowls. I use this brand and love it.
4. Cookie scoop: to help give you even cookies every time
5. Oven safe parchment paper or silicone mats. Parchment paper (or reusable silicone mats) are a godsend when it comes to baked goods. Cookies won’t stick, and you won’t have as much cleanup to do.
6. Large baking trays: I like big sized trays, like these well-reviewed ones.
7. Cooling racks: you need them to cool your cookies. Funfact: cookies continue to cook (bake?) when you leave them to cool on a hot baking tray, which is partly why having a cooling rack is important.
8. Mixer: I “borrowed” my mother in law’s mixer until the family surprised me with my own for my birthday. She’s had her kitchenaid for 10+ years and it’s still going strong. I hope to have my own Kitchen Aid for that long as well – it’s definitely an investment but worth it.