One of my favorite cookie recipes is these White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies! The pretty red Craisins and creamy white chocolate make these cranberry oatmeal cookies perfect for Christmas cookie platters and cookie exchanges, but they’re amazing any time of year. (Across the pond? Call them cranberry biscuits!) Best of all, the dough freezes beautifully, so you can bake a dozen fresh cookies whenever the craving hits.
I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite snacks is dried cranberries. I always have a big bag in the pantry, and they go especially well with almonds (or white chocolate chips, if I’m craving something sweet). Several years ago I was making oatmeal cookies and planned to throw in raisins, but I didn’t have any. I did have dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks. And voila! White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies were born.
This is one of the simplest oatmeal cookie recipes you’ll find. They’re soft and chewy like a classic oatmeal cookie, but the sweet white chocolate and the slightly tart cranberries make them something special.
Why You’ll Love These Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Chewy centers, golden edges. The classic oatmeal cookie texture everyone loves.
- Sweet meets tart. Creamy white chocolate balances the tang of dried cranberries.
- Make-ahead friendly. Freeze the dough and bake a dozen at a time all season.
- Big batch. About 3 dozen cookies, enough to share and still keep a stash.
- Cookie exchange approved. Readers have made these for church cookie exchanges and Thanksgiving dessert tables.
Ingredients for White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Butter: Salted butter gives the best flavor. Let it soften to room temperature, soft enough to dent with a finger but not shiny or greasy. Using unsalted? Increase the salt to 1 teaspoon.
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar: Brown sugar keeps the cookies soft and chewy; granulated sugar gives crisp edges.
- Eggs and vanilla extract.
- Oats: Old-fashioned rolled oats give the chewiest, most textured cookie. Quick oats work too (see the table below).
- All-purpose flour: Spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level it off. Too little flour is a common cause of flat cookies.
- Baking soda and salt.
- White chocolate chips: Chips or chopped white chocolate bars both work.
- Dried cranberries: Craisins or any sweetened dried cranberry. You can also make your own dried cranberries in the oven.
Which Oats to Use
| Oat type | Result in these cookies | Use it? |
|---|---|---|
| Old-fashioned rolled oats | Chewy, hearty, visible oats, best structure | Best choice |
| Quick-cooking oats | Softer, more uniform, less oat texture | Works well |
| Instant oatmeal packets | Pasty texture; often pre-sweetened or flavored | Skip |
| Steel-cut oats | Stay hard and gritty; don’t soften in a short bake | Skip |
How to Make White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Step 1: Cream together the wet ingredients
Start by creaming the room-temperature butter with the sugars until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Then add the eggs and vanilla. You can use a hand mixer, a stand mixer, or mix by hand.
Step 2: Gradually add the dry ingredients
In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Once everything is added, the dough will be thick.
Pro tip: If you’re using a hand or stand mixer, the dough will get too thick for the mixer at the end. Fold in the last of the dry ingredients by hand.
Step 3: Add the cranberries and white chocolate chips
Fold in the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips until evenly mixed.
Step 4: Chill the dough (recommended)
Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes. This firms up the butter so the cookies bake up thicker and chewier instead of spreading thin.
Step 5: Scoop and bake
Use a medium cookie scoop to portion the dough onto baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350°F for 9–12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers look slightly underdone. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 3–5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. They’ll finish setting as they cool.
How to Keep Oatmeal Cookies From Spreading
If your cookies came out flat or lacy, one of these is usually the culprit:
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Flat, thin or lacy cookies | Butter too warm or partly melted | Use butter that’s soft but still cool; chill the dough 30 minutes |
| Flat cookies | Flour or oats under-measured | Spoon and level with dry measuring cups instead of eyeballing |
| Later batches spread more | Dough scooped onto hot baking sheets | Let sheets cool between batches or rotate two sets |
| Dry or hard cookies | Overbaked | Pull them at 9–10 minutes when centers still look soft |
| Cookies taste flat or bland | Unsalted butter without extra salt | Use salted butter, or increase salt to 1 teaspoon |
| Uneven browning | Thin or dark pans | Use a heavy light-colored sheet pan with a silicone mat |
How to Freeze Cookie Dough (and Bake From Frozen)
I love doing this during the holidays when I want to mix the dough once and bake a dozen fresh cookies at a time. You have two options:
- All in one: Add all the dough to a single freezer-safe container. Thaw in the fridge overnight before scooping.
- Pre-scooped (my favorite): Scoop individual dough balls onto a lined cookie sheet, freeze for 1 hour, then transfer to a freezer bag or container.
Frozen cookie dough keeps for up to 2 months. Bake pre-scooped dough balls straight from the freezer, adding 1–2 minutes to the bake time.
How to Store White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
| Method | How | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Room temperature | Airtight container, layers separated with parchment | Up to 5 days |
| Freezer (baked cookies) | Freezer bag or airtight container; thaw at room temp | Up to 3 months |
| Freezer (dough) | Pre-scooped balls or one container | Up to 2 months |
The recipe makes about 3 dozen, so I keep half out for snacking and freeze the rest.
Variations & Swaps
- Cranberry orange: Add the zest of 1 orange with the vanilla.
- Warm spice: Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the dry ingredients.
- Add nuts: Fold in ½ cup chopped almonds, pecans or macadamia nuts. Love white chocolate and nuts? Try my White Chocolate Macadamia and Coconut Cookies.
- Swap the chocolate: Use dark or semisweet chocolate chips.
- Gluten-free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend and certified gluten-free oats. One reader made them this way for Thanksgiving and loved them.
- Craving a protein snack? My Cookie Dough Protein Balls scratch the same itch with no baking.
Perfect for Cookie Exchanges and Gifting
These cranberry oatmeal cookies are made for sharing. Package a dozen in a tin lined with parchment to deliver to neighbors, add them to your Christmas cookie and candy platters, or bring them to a cookie exchange. Because the recipe makes about 3 dozen and the dough freezes well, you can bake a fresh batch the morning of the party.
They’re also great to have on hand for holiday company, or as an after-school snack with the kids.
White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie FAQs
The most common causes are butter that’s too warm, under-measured flour or oats, and scooping onto hot baking sheets. Chill the dough for 30 minutes, measure with dry measuring cups, and let your pans cool between batches.
It’s not required, but a 30-minute chill gives thicker, chewier cookies, especially if your kitchen is warm or your butter got too soft.
Yes. Quick oats make a softer, more uniform cookie, while old-fashioned oats give more chew and texture. Skip instant oatmeal packets and steel-cut oats.
I use salted butter for the best flavor. If you only have unsalted, increase the salt to 1 teaspoon so the cookies don’t taste flat.
Craisins are perfect here; any sweetened dried cranberry works. Fresh cranberries aren’t a good swap. They’re very tart and release juice into the dough.
Yes. Freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, or freeze pre-scooped dough balls for up to 2 months and bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes.
Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, they stay soft for up to 5 days.
More Cranberry Recipes:
- Cranberry Fluff Salad
- Copycat Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Cranberry Bliss Fudge
- Cranberry No Bake Energy Bites
Want to make your own dried cranberries?
Check out my post for How to Make Dried Cranberries recipe! No dehydrator necessary – just 3 ingredients and your oven does the work.
These dried cranberries are great in salads, cookies, bars (like these cranberry bliss bars!), homemade granola & granola bars, and stirring into yogurt and oatmeal.
More Holiday Cookie Recipes:
- Christmas M&M Cookies
- Christmas Bark
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
- The BEST Monster Cookie Recipe
- Penguin Cookies
- White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Rice Krispie Christmas Trees
- Reindeer Pretzels
- Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookies
- Chewy Ginger Snap Cookies
- Chocolate Dipped Ritz Cracker Cookies
- Double Chocolate Mint Truffle Cookies
- Reese’s Pieces Cookies
- No Flour Monster Cookie Bars
- White Chocolate Fudge – a great 4-ingredient microwave fudge recipe that uses white chocolate chips!
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White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop Great for making uniform cookies. Scoops and releases dough easily!
- Silicone Baking Mat This OXO silicone baking mat is fantastic for cookie baking. Cookies bake evenly and slide off with ease.
- Sheet Pan These USA stainless steel sheet pans are great for one-pan meals!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter salted, softened to room temperature (if using unsalted, use 1 tsp salt)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups oatmeal quick cook or old fashioned
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
- In another bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture, folding in the last of it by hand. The dough will be thick.
- Fold in the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Cover and chill the dough for 30 minutes (recommended for thicker cookies).
- Scoop the dough with a medium cookie scoop onto the prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart (about 12 per sheet).
- Bake for 9–12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers look slightly underdone. Cool on the pan for 3–5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Measure flour and oats with dry measuring cups, spooned in and leveled.
- Ovens vary. Check at 9 minutes for chewier cookies.
- To freeze: scoop dough balls, freeze on a sheet for 1 hour, then bag for up to 2 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes.
- Gluten-free: use a 1:1 GF flour blend and certified GF oats.
Nutrition
I am so lovin cranberries this season! These look delicious and thanks for linking to Less Laundry, More Linking Party!!
Me too, Nancy! Thanks so much!
Stopping by from Show Stopper Saturday Link Party. Looking forward to following along.
These look so yummy! White chocolate and cranberries were made for each other! I want one right now!
I especially love cranberries and white chocolate together…and you did it all within a cookie! Love it!
These are the best cookies ever!! My whole family loves them. Great recipe, thanks!
Thanks so much, Jen!! They really are fabulous. So glad your family is enjoying them! Happy New Year to you and your family! Erin
These cookies look delightful. Found you at Snickerdoodle Create Bake Make.
Oh yum – these cookies look wonderful. A great one to offer the guests over the festive period, thanks! xx
Cranberry cookies! yum! 🙂 Hope you’ve brought many to our Fiesta Friday party 😉
I love this combination for a cookie! Hope you are enjoying your week and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday!
Miz Helen
I want these now, they look so good. Great step-by-step instructions.Thanks for sharing on Fiesta Friday group.
Just made these cookies, and they were delicious! Only change I made was adapting the flour for gluten free flour. We will be serving these to our family this Thanksgiving. Thank you for the amazing recipe!
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I made these tonight for a church cookie exchange. They’re really yummy. I will have to make a batch for myself now!
Awesome!! So glad you enjoyed! -Erin
I am sorry but my cookies flattened out really thin. Disappointed. They were good but didn’t look like the photo
Sorry to hear that. When you mixed your cookie dough, was your butter room temperature? Having room temperature butter helps when creaming together with the sugars. Also, did you adequately measure the oatmeal and flour with dry measuring cups, leveling with a flat edge? Sometimes if we’re “eyeballing” measurements, we get a little too much, or in this instance, maybe not enough of flour and/or oatmeal.
These are two potential culprits of getting flat cookies. Hopefully you’ll get a more thick, chewy cookie in the future. Happy holidays! -Erin
I am having the same problem. The issue is I’m not sure if I should be using salted or unsalted butter. I’ve made it with salted in the past and they went flat. I just tried unsalted and they don’t taste the same but seem a little dry.
Hi Candice – I typically use salted butter for pretty much all of my cookies. It lends to the flavor of the cookie. Also, are you adding the 1/2 teaspoon of salt that the recipe calls for? I definitely recommend keeping the salt to balance the sweetness and flavor. (If you’re using unsalted butter, up the salt to 1 teaspoon.) It will prevent the cookies from tasting flat. As for the dryness, try baking the cookies for just 9 minutes. I know I recommend 10-12 minutes, however ovens can vary. ( I know when I bake at my mom’s house, her electric oven takes longer than my gas oven.) Adjusting the bake time will keep your cookies more chewy & moist, and prevent them from drying out. Hope this helps! -Erin
Just made these followed your recipe to T. Everything room temperature and they are like lace cookies. Not sure what happens. But they taste delish!! I wanted a thick fluffy cookie.
Hmmm. Thank you for letting me know and following up. This is definitely worth a retest on my end to see what the culprit may be. I’m glad they still tasted yummy, tho. Have a wonderful holiday season. Best, Erin
I love this combination for a cookie! Hope you are enjoying your week and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday! Miz Helen