Great big Oatmeal Craisin Cookies are thick, soft, chewy cookies loaded with tender oatmeal, dried cranberries, and rich dark chocolate chips. Delicious one-bowl, no-chill cookie recipe that's special enough for your holiday cookie tray and easy enough for every day.
Be sure to try Toll House Cookie Bars, Paula Deen Monster Cookies, and Browned Butter Peanut Butter Cookies next!
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These Oatmeal Craisin Cookies are the perfect cookie. Super big, thick, and soft and packed full of chewy oats, tart cranberries, and rich dark chocolate. So much better than a traditional oatmeal raisin cookie, IMO.
Fresh from the oven, these giant cookies are oozy and gooey. When cooled, they're soft and chewy. This oatmeal cookie dough is no chill, so you can bake a batch right away. But sometimes, I give it a little time in the fridge for even thicker cookies.
You can make them REALLY BIG or regular-sized -- they're perfectly soft, thick, and chewy either way!
If you're in the mood for big, thick chocolate chip cookies, be sure to try these amazing Levain Cookies!
You’re going to love these
- Giant chewy oatmeal cookies are impressive-looking and great for gift-giving!
- Thick, soft, chewy cookie packed full of oats, tart cranberries, and rich dark chocolate
- These delicious cookies are oozy and gooey straight from the oven, soft and chewy when cooled.
- Easy one-bowl, no chill oatmeal cookie recipe
Ingredients
Unsalted butter. Use room temperature butter for this oatmeal craisin cookies recipe, which means the butter is cool to the touch. When you press on it, your finger will indent but won't go through the butter.
Brown sugar. Brown sugar adds richness, flavor, moisture, and chewiness to these cookies. I always use dark brown sugar for the deep molasses flavor.
White sugar. White sugar helps cookies brown and become crispy.
Eggs. Use room temperature large eggs. If you forget, just place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for about ten minutes.
Cornstarch. Cornstarch helps keep the cookies nice and tender. It also helps keep the dough from spreading so you can make your cookies big and thick.
Oatmeal. I use Quaker Oats old fashioned rolled oats for this oatmeal craisin cookie to give it as much texture and chewiness as possible. Quick cooking oats are okay, but your cookies won’t have that nice chewy texture.
Craisins. Craisins add sweetness, chewiness, and pretty red jewels of color throughout the cookie.
Dark chocolate chips. My favorite is Ghirardelli's bittersweet chocolate chips. The slight bitterness of dark chocolate chips is delicious in a sweet cookie with cranberries and oatmeal.
400-degree oven. One of the secrets to making such a big, fat, thick oatmeal cookie that’s crispy on the outside and soft on the inside is a hot oven. I know, you’re probably used to baking all your cookies at 350. But this really works.
Substitutes
Fruit. Try a different kind of dried fruit, like raisins, dried cherries, or dried blueberries. Whatever you love.
Chocolate chips. You can use milk chocolate chips, semi sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or dark or white chocolate chunks.
Nuts. Feel free to add walnuts, pecans, almonds, or any kind of nuts. Oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies sound good, don't they? Coconut would be delicious, too!
How to Make the BEST Oatmeal Craisin Cookies
Step 1: With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Mix in the eggs until fully incorporated, then the vanilla extract.
Step 2: Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix.
Step 3: Mix in the oats, craisins, and chocolate chips on low speed until just incorporated.
Step 4: Portion the dough into very large balls -- 4.5 ounces or about ½ cup. Rip the ball in half and press the two halves together, torn side out. Place 4-6 scoops onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Step 5: Bake cookies at 400 degrees for 11-14 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Let the baked cookies rest for a few minutes on the warm baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack.
Step 6: For gooey, oozy cookies, let them sit for about 15 minutes before digging in. For thick, dense cookies, let them cool all the way, or about an hour.
This recipe makes 11-12 GIANT oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies.
Expert Tips
- For best results, use room temperature eggs and butter. Butter that is room temperature is cool to the touch, not soft and squishy.
- If you don’t have a large strainer or sifter, you can also whisk the dry ingredients together in another bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients.
- Chilling the dough is optional and creates an even thicker cookie with more intense flavor. If desired, refrigerate the dough for 30-60 minutes before baking.
- For regular-sized cookies, portion dough into 2.25-ounce or about ¼ cup balls. Bake for about 9-11 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
How to Make Thick Cookies
This is the best oatmeal cranberry cookie for anyone who is looking for a thick, soft cookie. I see a lot of people on social media asking how to make their cookies thicker, especially after pulling a pan of flat cookies out of the oven.
These are the tricks I swear by:
Cold dough. These cookies are nice and thick without chilling the dough, but for even thicker cookies, chill the dough for 30-60 minutes.
Round scoops of dough. Scooping your cookie dough into tall, round balls will help keep the cookies thick as they bake.
Cold baking sheets. A warm pan can cause your cookies to spread. Use a cool pan for each batch of cookies.
Room temperature butter. Use room temperature butter, not softened or soft butter. It should be around 65 degrees. Or press your finger onto the butter, it should make an indentation but not go all the way through.
Careful mixing. Be careful not to overmix the cookie dough. Overmixing can add too much air and cause the cookies to puff up and then fall into flat cookies. Mix just until everything is fully incorporated.
The right amount of flour. Oatmeal craisin cookies need enough all purpose flour to absorb the liquid in the dough. Be sure to measure flour by spooning the flour into the measuring cup and leveling it off with the flat edge of a knife.
FAQs
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container or zip-top bag for a couple of weeks.
Yes, you can freeze baked oatmeal cookies. Just wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap then place them in a zip-top bag. You can store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You bet! You can keep your cookie batter covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days before baking.
Before baking, let the dough sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Because the dough is cold, the cookies will be very thick. If desired, slightly flatten the dough balls into a puck before baking.
Yes! Scoop out the cookie dough portions, place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze them. Then, place the frozen cookie dough balls in a zip-top freezer bag. Be sure to label the bag with the date and cooking instructions. Freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months.
Yes. This dough is thick and, when baked from frozen, won't spread much during baking. Thaw the cookie dough in the refrigerator.
Before baking, let the thawed dough sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Cold dough will result in very thick cookies. If desired, slightly flatten the dough balls into a puck before baking.
Old fashioned oats are the best choice for this oatmeal cranberry cookies recipe because they add texture and chewiness to the cookies. Quick oats, because they are cut into smaller pieces, will create a smoother textured cookie — and you might not really know there’s oatmeal in there.
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📖 Recipe
Big, Thick, Soft Oatmeal Craisin Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup craisins
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 if baking right away.
- With a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the eggs until fully incorporated, then the vanilla.
- Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Mix in the oatmeal, craisins, and chocolate chips until just combined.
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Bake right away for big, thick cookies (see baking times below). For even thicker cookies, chill dough for 30 minutes to one hour.
- For Large Cookies: With a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop, or measuring cup, portion dough into very large balls, about the size of a baseball -- 4.5 ounces or about ½ cup. Roll the dough into a loose ball, rip the ball in half, and press the two halves together with the torn sides out. Place 4-6 scoops on baking sheet torn sides out. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- For Smaller Cookies: Portion dough into smaller balls -- 2.25 ounces or about ¼ cup. Rip the balls in half, and press the two halves together with the torn sides out. Place on baking sheet torn sides out. Bake for about 9-11 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Let the cookies rest for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack. For gooey, oozy cookies, let them sit for about 15 minutes. For thick, dense cookies, let them cool for at least one hour.
- This recipe makes 11-12 giant or 22-24 regular sized oatmeal craisin cookies.
Notes
- Use room temperature butter and eggs for best results. Room temperature butter is not soft and squishy. It's cool to the touch and about 65 degrees.
- If you don’t have a large strainer or sifter, you can also whisk them together in another bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients.
- There is no need to chill the dough to prevent spreading. However, for enhanced flavor and the thickest cookies possible, chill the dough for 30 minutes to one hour.
- Bake cookies to an internal temperature of 175 to 185.
This recipe was a total disaster. Forming the ingredients into a baseball only allowed the exterior to burn.
I pressed them down after 10 minutes and they came out of the oven dry and hard after another 5 minutes. Threw the whole thing into the trash. I made the recipe exactly as it was written.
Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear this! I wonder if the oven was too hot? They should have been almost done at the 10-minute mark, since the baking time is only 11-14 minutes. Sounds like they overbaked after flattening and 5 more minutes of baking. Should you decide to give them another go, try lowering the oven temperature. I really hope this helps!
Delicious chewy thick cookies. I used this to make oatmeal raisin cookies and it worked well for that as well.
Thank you so much, Toni, I'm glad you enjoyed them :). Cara
Flavor is good but they seem a bit dry, like too much flour or not enough butter/oil. I followed the recipe except I added a tbsp of my favorite sweetener. Like someone else said, they were thick and raw in the center so I flattened them a little for the next batch and they were fine. I will try the recipe again but with a few tweaks.
Hi, thank you so much for trying this recipe and leaving your comments. I'm sorry they didn't turn out perfectly -- which is always my hope. I take your comments to heart and use them to make improvements. I baked these cookies again and played around with the baking temp and time and made some adjustments to the recipe. I found that a 400 degree oven and an extended baking time of 11-14 minutes still makes a really gooey cookie when it's warm and a nice, soft, tender cookie when it's cooled. I hope these changes work better for you and would love to hear what tweaks you end up trying. Thank you, again, for the note!
The taste was great! and I loved the addition of the baking powder, but on my first batch the huge cookies just stayed ball-shaped and were raw in the inside. I smooshed them down and cut them into four pieces each and cooked for an additional 4-5 minutes to make sure they weren't raw. Not sure what I did wrong. next time I'll just make regular sized cookies and i'm sure they'll be great. Thanks!
Hi, Alana! Thanks for the note. These cookies should definitely be thick (about an inch and a half or even more) and really gooey inside when they come out of the oven, but not a round ball that is still raw. I'm so sorry they didn't turn out perfectly for you.
A couple of thoughts for you:
First, if they truly didn't spread out even a little bit, which sounds like what happened, it may be that there was too much flour in them? This can easily happen if flour is scooped into the measuring cup from the bag or canister. If you didn't do this the first time around, I would suggest spooning the flour into the measuring cup, then leveling the top off with a knife.
Another thought might be that your oven wasn't preheated long enough or didn't get as hot as it said it did. If you think this could be the case, it might be worth checking your oven temperature with an oven thermometer.
And finally, when these cookies come out of the oven, they should be golden brown on top and really, really gooey in the middle -- so they can seem underdone. If you eat them while they're still warm, they will be extremely ooey and gooey. And when they rest for a full hour, they will be very soft and dense inside.
I'm hoping some of this will help your cookies turn out just the way you want them to! Please let me know how they turn out next time, if you have any other questions, or how I can assist further. Thank you again for trying this recipe and allowing me to help troubleshoot, I really appreciate it! Cara
These were soooo good. I ate them all myself…over a week. I refrigerated the batter overnight and only got ten cookies. I left them in the oven just a little too long and had to scrape the bottom…but, they were still soooo good. I only used cranberries, two big cups full. They were crunchy on the outside and moist inside. Will make them again this weekend as I try to find the right spot in my oven where they won’t burn.
Hi, Odecca, I'm so happy you enjoyed these cookies! I'm quite impressed they lasted a week -- they never last that long here, haha! I bet with all those cranberries they were bursting with tart-sweet yumminess! If you think your oven runs hot, perhaps try a little lower temperature? Also, a silicone mat or parchment paper should help with the sticking. Happy baking this weekend! Thank you so much for your note, you made my day! Cara
I made them a little smaller so I would have some to share and I used white chocolate morsels. They were a big hot! Going to make them again soon!
Hi, Yvonne, Thank you for stopping by to leave this note :). How fun that you made them smaller so you could share them. And white chocolate is always a great combo with craisins! I'm so glad they were a hit and hope you'll enjoy making them again and again.
How many cookies in a serving?
Hi, Judy, One serving is one, big, giant cookie :). You can also make them smaller if you like and reduce the baking time.
hi! how are you? can we get this recipe in grams? i'm from argentina and we don't use cups, thank you for reading and for share your recipes❤️
Hi! Thank you for your request, I'm so glad you asked. I have enabled the functionality on the recipe card that automatically converts the ingredients. Please take a look and let me know if this is helpful? If you see anything that looks off to you or doesn't make sense, please let me know. This is the first recipe I've done this way :).
Cara, this recipe is fantastic. Will share for others to enjoy a taste of your tantalizing recipes, culinary expertise and tips that make life in the kitchen easier, along with inviting photos and your gifted writing style that informs with a personal touch of home, humor, heart and mind. Love watching your journey blossom and shine. Cheers, Miss Vickie🎶
Thank you, Miss Vickie, I hope you will have fun making and sharing these cookies. Your generous words and support mean the world to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Love, Cara