There is just something beautifully nostalgic about biting into an oatmeal cookie. I’m not sure if it is the flakey texture or warming flavor, or even just the thought that they came straight from your loving grandma.
Whatever it is, oatmeal cookies have forever been a favorite of mine and anytime I would have one it would leave me hopeful for the next. The only problem for me was that I did not have a trusty oatmeal recipe that I could recreate at home that would leave me with a safe reserve of oatmeal goodness anytime I needed it.
So I began trying out different recipes and although they were all yummy in their own ways, I felt each was lacking in some way. Either it was flat and crunchy or soft and chewy, but never the perfect balance of crisp AND chewy. Thankfully after a little experimentation I’ve achieved this perfect balance and I know you’ll be delighted to try them out and see what I mean!
How to Make these cookies:
Preparation
In order to make these cookies successfully every time, you will need to first heat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Also have ready two (2) medium/large mixing bowls as well as a wooden mixing spoon and a fork.
Creating the Dough
1st Bowl:
In your largest mixing bowl, use a fork to evenly coat and combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats. Using a fork here really helps to coat the oats quite nicely but if all you have is your mixing spoon that will still do the job just fine.
The photo above is the flour and oats mixture in the first bowl. Once these ingredients are mixed together, set this first bowl aside while you prepare the mixture in your second bowl.
2nd Bowl:
For the 2nd bowl, you will need to first cream together the melted butter and coconut sugar.
Then crack in both eggs, raw honey, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything comes together nicely.
Combining contents from the bowls:
Pour in content from 2nd bowl into the 1st bowl that contains the flour/oat mixture.
Mix all of the ingredients together until the powdery flour parts dissolve into the dough mass. I will sometimes sprinkle in about 1/4 cup more oats at this part just to have some that aren’t as incorporated into the dough but that is totally up to you.
Adding your Cranberries:
Finally, fold in the dried cranberries into the dough and keep folding until the cranberries are evenly distributed. At this point, the dough is complete and should be a wet and sticky dough.
Prepping to Bake:
Using a table spoon and your finger, portion out individual cookie mounds that are about 2” in diameter and place them onto your parchment-lined cookie sheets roughly 2″ apart. I am able to fit 10-12 cookie dough mounds on each cookie sheet.
By keeping the dough in a ball/mound shape, this will ensure your cookie will form a crisp bottom while still maintaining a moist and chewy inside. If you prefer a crunchier texture throughout, you can flatten the dough mounds on the cookie sheet.
I like to space out my dough mounds into two rows of 4-5 cookies so that they won’t be too crowded after baking, however these cookies do not spread out too much relative to the size of your dough mound so it is okay to pack more onto one cookie sheet.
Baking
Bake in hot oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and not so wet looking. It may feel too soft at first but it will set and firm up during cooling.
Cooking time will vary based on your particular oven and the size of the cookie mounds. Recipe yields approximately 30-35 oatmeal cranberry cookies.
Allow cookies to cool for about 10 minutes before eating to allow the crisp and chewy texture to really set in. Enjoy & Shalom!
Caution: try not to eat all 30 cookies in one sitting. While thoroughly enjoyable, you may experience some uncomfortable stomach feelings as well as have some pretty upset family members.
Crisp & Chewy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
- Two (2) mixing bowls
- Wooden Spoon
- 2-3 Cookie Sheets
- parchment paper
Ingredients
1st Bowl
- 1 1/2 Cups Organic Unbleached All-purpose Flour
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Organic Ground Cinnamon
- 3 Cups Organic Old-fashioned Rolled Oats
2nd Bowl
- 1 Cup Grassfed Butter, melted 8 oz / salted or unsalted
- 1 1/2 Cups Organic Coconut Brown Sugar
- 2 Pasture-raised Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Organic Raw Honey Non-raw is fine, but must be pure honey
- 2 1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract *not imitation
- 1 1/2 Cups Dried Cranberries
Instructions
Preparation
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. You will need two medium or large mixing bowls and a wooden spoon to form the dough.
1st Bowl
- In the largest bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats using a fork.
2nd Bowl
- In the second bowl, first cream together melted butter and coconut sugar. Then mix in eggs, honey, and vanilla until well incorporated.
Combining to form dough
- Pour contents from second bowl into bowl with flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until fully combined into a sticky, wet dough. Fold in dried cranberries with a spoon until evenly combined throughout.
Prepping to Bake
- Using a table spoon and your finger, portion out individual cookie mounds that are about 2” in diameter and place them onto your parchment-lined cookie sheets roughly 2" apart. I am able to fit 10-12 cookie dough mounds on each cookie sheet.
Bake
- Bake in hot oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown and not so wet looking. It may feel too soft at first but it will set and firm up during cooling. Cooking time will vary based on your particular oven and the size of the cookie mounds. Recipe yields approximately 30-35 oatmeal cranberry cookies. Allow cookies to cool for about 10 minutes before eating to allow the crisp and chewy texture to really set in. Enjoy & Shalom!