Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Soft, chewy oatmeal cookie recipe.

Cookie Recipe

These cranberry oatmeal cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with colourful, tart cranberries.

The note on Mom’s hand-written recipe card says, “Jan. 17/95, Very good.” And that’s how I remember these cookies. Very good.

I hadn’t eaten one of these for a couple of decades. Then, when before teaching one of my in-person food-gardening classes, I thought, “let’s have cookies while we talk about gardening.” So I turned to Mom’s recipe box.

Why You’ll Love these Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

• The tartness of the cranberries balances the sweetness.

• The pieces of cranberry add colour.

• These soft oatmeal cookies melt in your mouth.

Makes 3-4 dozen, depending how generous you are as you spoon the batter onto the cookie sheet.

I hope you enjoy them!

Soft and chewy cranberry oatmeal cookies on a cooling rack.

Ingredients

• 1 cup vegetable shortening

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup buttermilk (Mom used buttermilk, I use kefir)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 3 cups quick oats

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• pinch of nutmeg

• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries

I find frozen cranberries easy to chop, so don’t worry if you don’t have fresh cranberries. You could probably use dried cranberries too, though they’re often sweetened, and I find this recipe sweet enough.

Directions

• Cream shortening and sugar

• Beat in eggs

• Stir in buttermilk

• Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and then stir into sugar-shortening mixture

• Stir in oats

• Stir in cranberries

• Spoon tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheets (well greased, or with parchment paper)

• Bake at 400°F for about 10 minutes (or until colour around edges begins to change).

Don’t cook too long; an oatmeal cookie ought to be soft to bite into.

Enjoy!

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