Favorite Chewy Oatmeal-Cranberry-Orange Cookies to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Fans of chewy oatmeal cookies will love this version, studded with sweet tart cranberries and orange zest for a bright citrus note. Browned butter adds rich, nutty flavor with a touch of cinnamon to marry the wholesome, chewy oats.

Happy Thursday!

How about a treat to satisfy your sweet tooth?

With 3 cups of old-fashioned oats as the main ingredient, you have a perfect excuse

to enjoy one (or two ;) for breakfast with your morning coffee!

These are my hubby’s favorite cookies and that’s saying something as he is a cookie aficionado.

This recipe was born trying to replicate Cranberry-Orange-Oatmeal Cookies from Publix bakery.

I tweaked this recipe over time until I finally landed on a version that we like better!

These cookies marry the sweet/tart flavor of dried cranberries,

bright citrus of orange, and warm nuttiness of browned butter,

 with wholesome chewy oats.

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I’ve baked these cookies immediately after mixing the dough and after giving the dough some chilling time in refrigerator. The chilling time in the fridge allows the flavors to meld and results in a chewier texture and less spreading while baking. You’ll want to use old-fashioned oats for the best texture for these cookies. You can substitute quick oats but the cookie texture will be less chewy; avoid extra-thick rolled oats, as they will bake up tough in the cookie.

 No mixer required to make these cookies, as the butter is melted and batter is easy to stir together. The browned butter adds a rich, nutty, and slightly caramelized flavor and the oil keeps the cookies moist.

Roasted Walnut Oil is my go-to oil for baking to add a depth of flavor and rich, nutty taste. It’s also a plant-based source of Omega-3 fatty acids and rich in antioxidants.

You can read more about the health benefits of walnuts from WebMD, here.

Use walnut oil to give your favorite brownie mix a flavor upgrade or use in it your favorite banana bread recipe or zucchini bread.

You can also use it to whisk up salad dressings or add a drizzle on top of your hummus or as finishing oil in a bowl of our favorite delicious and healthy Roasted Pear-Butternut Soup!

If you’re allergic to walnuts, substitute the oil of your choice.

Chewy Oatmeal-Cranberry-Orange Cookies

Makes about 25 cookies using a #20 (3 tablespoon) scoop

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup walnut oil (or oil of choice)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Zest of 1 large orange

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup dried cranberries (substitute raisins if you prefer or omit)

Demerara Sugar, or Sparkling Sugar, optional, for sprinkling on top of cookies before baking

 Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

 Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat, swirling pan occasionally, until foaming subsides. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pan with heat-resistant spatula, until milk solids are dark golden brown and butter has nutty aroma, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl, scraping skillet with spatula. Stir in cinnamon.

 Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil to bowl with butter; whisk until combined. Add eggs, vanilla and orange zest and whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in flour mixture until fully combined, about 1 minute. Add oats and cranberries and stir until evenly distributed (mixture will be stiff). Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a #20 cookie scoop, scoop out dough and place dough balls  2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Using back of measuring cup sprayed with nonstick spray, press each ball into a disk. Top with cookie with sprinkling of Demerara or sparkling sugar if desired before baking for a little sweet crunch.

 Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until cookie edges are set and lightly browned and centers are still soft but not wet, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Do yourself a favor and your make own Homemade Vanilla Extract!

 It’s more affordable than store-bought and comes together in five minutes, ready to use in two months, improving as it ages!

Baking essentials:

Orblue Lemon Zester & Cheese Grater – Premium Citrus Zester

4.7 out of 5 stars with 3,430 global ratings

#20 Size 3 Tbsp Cookie Scoop for Baking

For even portioning of cookies; 4.6 out of 5 stars with 4,534 ratings

Ovens can vary by 50 degrees higher or lower than the desired temperature. Use an inexpensive oven thermometer to get the most accurate reading. This oven thermometer has 4.4 out of 5 stars with 23,098 global ratings.

If you need to upgrade your baking sheets, I highly recommend this set of Chicago Metallic Non-Stick Cookie and Jelly-Roll Pans  that come with a cooling rack.  I use them for everything from baking cookies to roasting veggies, or cooking bacon. They have wire-rod reinforced rims to prevent warping and flexing in the oven.

I’m a big fan of this precut parchment paper.

It’s unbleached, available in four different sizes, is greaseproof, waterproof and withstands oven temps up to 425°F.

Print Recipe

Oatmeal-Cranberry-Orange Cookies

Fans of chewy oatmeal cookies will love this version, studded with sweet, tart cranberries, and orange zest for a bright citrus note. Browned butter adds rich, nutty, and slightly caramelized flavor with a touch of cinnamon to round out the flavor and pair with wholesome oats.

Prep Time14 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

chilling time dough2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 24 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: browned butter, chewy oatmeal cookies, cookies for breakfast, dried cranberries, old fashioned oats, orange zest, roasted walnut oil

Servings: 25 cookies

Equipment

• microplane zester

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup walnut oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 large orange
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• Demerara Sugar, optional, for sprinkling on top of cookies before baking

Instructions

• Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
• Melt butter in a pan over medium-high heat, swirling pan occasionally, until foaming subsides. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping bottom of pan with heat-resistant spatula, until milk solids are dark golden brown and butter has nutty aroma, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl, scraping skillet with spatula. Stir in cinnamon.
• Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil to bowl with butter and whisk until combined.
• Add eggs, vanilla and orange zest and whisk until mixture is smooth. Make sure browned butter mixture has cooled enough before adding eggs.
• Stir in flour mixture until fully combined, about 1 minute.
• Add oats and cranberries and stir until evenly distributed (mixture will be stiff). Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.
• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a #20 cookie scoop, scoop out dough and place dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Using back of measuring cup sprayed with nonstick spray, press each ball into a disk.
• Top with cookie with sprinkling of Demerara or sparkling sugar if desired before baking.
• Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until cookie edges are set and lightly browned and centers are still soft but not wet, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Notes

• Stirring the oats and cranberries together before adding them to the dough mixture, helps prevent the cranberries from clumping together and mix more evenly throughout your batter.
• This dough benefits for a couple hours of chilling time in the refrigerator, (or up to overnight). The chilling time allows the flavors to meld and results in a chewier texture and less spreading when baking.
• Substitute raisins for cranberries if your prefer or omit altogether; you'll get slightly fewer cookies. 
• For best chewy texture use old-fashioned oats. You can substitute quick oats (which will be less chewy) but avoid extra-thick rolled oats, as they will bake up tough in the cookie.
• When measuring flour, use the ‘spoon & sweep’ method: Use a spoon to fill measuring cup with flour to overflowing, then sweep with knife edge to level. Scooping flour directly from the bag or canister will yield a heavier cup and larger amount that can negatively affect your recipes.

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