These Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies are the ultimate cookie for the holiday season. These cookies are soft and chewy and made with clean and simple ingredients.
Cranberries are one of my favorite things about the holiday season. Their delicious tart flavor is something I look forward to all year. I love using fresh cranberries in recipes like my Vegan Cranberry Orange Muffins or my Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread. However, I wanted to find a way to bake using dried cranberries and these chewy cookies were the perfect solution! They are the perfect easy vegan holiday cookie.
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Jump to:
- Ingredients For Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
- How To Make Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
- Substitutions:
- Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Variations:
- What You Will Need To Make These Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
- How To Store Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
- Top Tip:
- Frequently Asked Questions:
- Related Vegan Christmas Cookie Recipes:
- Gluten-Free Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
- More Recipes That Use Maple Crystals:
- Reviews
Ingredients For Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
These easy vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies are one of my favorite cookies to make this time of year because they are delicious cookies and they are made with nutritious ingredients.
Dry Ingredients:
- Gluten-Free Flour - I usually stay away from gluten-free flour mixes, because a majority of them are highly processed, and do not retain much of, or any fiber. However, I really like the King Arthur gluten-free flour blend. It is made with whole grains, and it works just like all-purpose flour!
- Gluten-Free Rolled Oats - If you eat a gluten-free diet, make sure that the oats you buy are certified gluten-free. If you can eat gluten, it doesn't matter. It's also important to use rolled oats for this recipe and not quick oats. Quick oats will not give these cookies the same look or texture.
- Maple Crystals - These are my all-time favorite natural sweeteners for baking (especially baking vegan cookies). They work just like cane sugar, however, they are low glycemic and full of vitamins and minerals. I always get mine from Wilderness Poets. As always my code: "NATURALVEGAN" gets you $10 off your purchase!
- Baking Soda - No cookie is complete without baking soda! Baking soda helps the cookies spread and bake evenly.
- Salt - A pinch of salt is absolutely necessary to bring together any recipe. These cookies wouldn't be complete without a little saltiness.
- Dried Cranberries - If you're looking for refined sugar-free dried cranberries, the best place to get them is Wilderness Poets. Their dried cranberries are sweetened with apple juice and taste incredible in this vegan cookie recipe. Again, the code: "NATURALVEGAN" gets you $10 off your purchase!
- Ground Flax Seed - This will be used to make the flax egg. A flax egg is a vegan egg substitute that is made up of ground flax seed and water. When mixed it turns into the perfect vegan eggy texture.
Wet Ingredients:
- Water- This will be mixed with the ground flax seed to make the vegan egg. You will also need a little bit of additional water to ensure the ingredients stick together.
- Coconut Butter - This is definitely the trickiest ingredient for this recipe. I've played around with a lot of different brands, and I have found this to be the best. The coconut butter should be soft and runny. If it is not heat it up in 15-second intervals in the microwave. If it is not a fresh jar and it has dried out, I recommend adding a teaspoon to a tablespoon of cold-pressed coconut oil to restore moisture.
- Vanilla Extract - Is any cookie complete without vanilla extract? I always recommend using Mexican Vanilla, because I find that it has a deeper flavor.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
These Vegan Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are one of my favorite treats to bake. They're the perfect quick, easy, and delicious cookie.
1. Begin by making the flax egg by combining the ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons of water together in a small bowl and setting aside for about 10 minutes, or until it has achieved an egg-like texture.
2. Next sift all the dry ingredients except the oats and dried cranberries together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or by hand with a spatula. Once the mixture resembles cookie dough add the oats and cranberries and mix in. Cover and place in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350. Scoop the cookies out with a medium cookie scoop and place them on a prepared baking sheet (you can either use parchment paper or oil). Place in the oven to bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
Substitutions:
There are a couple of substitutions that can be made to this recipe that work really well. Here are some of the common ones.
- Coconut Sugar - Although I strongly encourage you to use maple crystals in this recipe for not just health reasons, but also flavor, you can use coconut sugar or brown sugar if needed. This will affect the color of the cookies slightly as well.
- Oil - If you prefer chewier cookies, you can use oil in place of the coconut butter. I recommend using half the amount. Coconut oil, olive oil, and vegan butter are all great options.
- Flour - If you are not gluten-free, you can use all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour as a 1:1 substitute.
Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Variations:
There are a couple of delicious variations that you can try out on these vegan cranberry oatmeal cookies if you're looking for a fun way to mix it up!
- Vegan White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies - One of my favorite Christmas cookies is my mom's white chocolate cranberry cookies. You can replace the oatmeal, or add vegan white chocolate chips to these cookies for a delicious rich variation.
- Nutty - You can add a handful of your favorite nuts for added crunch!
What You Will Need To Make These Chewy Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
These chewy cookies are perfect for the holiday season because they require minimal equipment and they are so easy to make. Here's what you'll need to make this recipe.
- Mixing Bowls - You will need a small bowl for the flax egg and a large bowl for the cookie batter to make these cookies.
- Electric Mixer - You can use either a hand mixer, stand mixer, or hand mixing to mix the cookie dough.
- Cookie Sheet - I recommend using a light stainless steel baking sheet. Light-colored bakeware won't burn the bottom as easily as dark-colored. However, whatever you have on hand will work.
- Medium Cookie Scoop - You will need a medium cookie scoop to measure out the perfect-sized oat cookies.
- Parchment Paper (optional) - If your cookie sheet is not nonstick or dark in color I recommend using parchment paper to prevent the cookies from sticking to the pan and burning on the bottom.
- Wire Rack - You will need a wire rack to cool these cookies on.
As always you can find all my go-to equipment on my Amazon storefront or my affiliate page.
How To Store Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies:
These healthy oatmeal cranberry cookies are great because they store super well.
I recommend storing these cookies in an airtight container in the fridge. They can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, however, I find that they are much chewier when they are chilled.
These cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
Top Tip:
In my opinion, these cookies taste their best when they're chilled. I recommend letting them chill in the fridge for best results.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Fresh cranberries are everywhere during this time of year. They're perfect for so many different recipes. However, I would not recommend them for these cookies. The problem with fresh cranberries is that they have to bake for quite a while to get soft and sweet.
This is a problem because cookies do not take long to bake at all. Therefore I strongly recommend that you use dried cranberries for this recipe.
One of my absolute favorite plant-based sweeteners for baking is Maple Crystals. Maple Crystals are a natural sweetener that comes from maple tree sap. It's raw and has the water removed, so it's perfect for baking cookies.
Maple Crystals contain high amounts of antioxidants, have a lower glycemic index score than other sweeteners, and are rich in zinc, manganese, potassium, and calcium! Needless to say, they're a great addition to any baked good. My personal favorite way to use them is in recipes like these vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies because they melt like sugar which gives the cookies that perfect soft crunch.
Related Vegan Christmas Cookie Recipes:
Looking for more delicious vegan Christmas cookies? Make sure to check out the other recipes on my website!
If you try this Gluten-Free Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookie recipe, I'd really love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I'd also really appreciate a recipe card rating! Thank you for supporting The All Natural Vegan!
Gluten-Free Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- ½ cup gluten-free flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ⅔ cup maple crystals "NATURALVEGAN" for $10 off
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries "NATURALVEGAN" for $10 off
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
Wet ingredients:
- ⅓ cup coconut butter check the section above about how to properly use coconut butter in baking.
- `1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoon water - separated 3 for the flax egg and 2 for the cookie dough
Instructions
- Begin by making the flax egg by combining the ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons of water together in a small bowl and setting aside for about 10 minutes, or until it has achieved an egg-like texture.
- Next sift all the dry ingredients except the oats and dried cranberries together in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or by hand with a spatula. Once the mixture resembles cookie dough add the oats and cranberries and mix in.
- Cover and place in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Scoop the cookies out with a medium cookie scoop and place them on a prepared baking sheet (you can either use parchment paper or oil). Place in the oven to bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Once done, place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
More Recipes That Use Maple Crystals:
Looking for more delicious recipes to make with maple crystals? Make sure to check out the other recipes on my website!
Jess says
These are perfect for the holidays!
Giangi says
Perfection and on my list of cookies to bake this holiday season.
Thank you for the recipe.
Cindy says
I adore cranberries! These are terrific!
Judith says
Delicious cookies and it’s useful to have a vegan cookie recipe ready for vegan guests.
Andrea says
these cranberry cookies are something special. sweet and delicious!
nancy says
JacQ! these Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies was holiday perfect and still healthy! Love it
Erin says
These vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies are so good ... thanks for the great recipe!
Jacqui says
My husband is obsessed with oatmeal cookies and he loved them so much! Thank you!