Soft and chewy vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies loaded with cranberries, macadamia nuts and a touch of molasses. The perfect holiday cookie!
Oatmeal cookies are one of my FAVORITE holiday cookies. Add cranberries and macadamias and they are simply perfect!
They are loaded with flavor, soft and chewy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, with a gorgeous hint of molasses to round out those holiday flavors beautifully.
So if you’re baking cookies for Santa, or, you know, guests, these vegan oatmeal cranberry cookies need to be at the top of your list (alongside our vegan brown sugar cookies, vegan butter cookies and vegan snickerdoodles)
And if you love a good oatmeal cookie then also check out our vegan oatmeal cookies, vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, vegan oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, vegan pumpkin oatmeal cookies and vegan cowboy cookies. You’ll also love our vegan granola, vegan oatmeal bars, vegan granola bars and vegan oatmeal pancakes.
Recipe Ingredients:
Ingredient Notes
- Dried cranberries – whole dried cranberries work great and don’t need to be chopped so long as they are not too large. If they are quite large then rather chop them first otherwise they will fall out of the cookies.
- Molasses – this recipe uses just 1 tablespoon of molasses for a hint of molasses flavor. Grandma’s Molasses is a good brand of unsulpured molasses if you’re in the USA.
- Macadamias – raw macadamias should be roughly chopped before adding them to the cookie dough. You can omit them if you like or switch for something like chopped pecans or hazelnuts.
- Coconut – dessicated coconut is also known as finely shredded coconut or unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Soy milk – can be switched for a different non-dairy milk.
Step By Step Instructions
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add vegan butter and light brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer (or you can use a large bowl with a handheld mixer) and beat until well combined.
- Add maple syrup, molasses and vanilla extract and beat in until well mixed.
- In a separate bowl add rolled oats, all purpose flour, dessicated coconut, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix in with a spoon or spatula until crumbly.
- Add the soy milk and mix into a thick cookie dough.
- Add cranberries and chopped macadamias and mix in.
- Roll the dough into balls and place them evenly onto parchment lined baking sheets. Aim to get 20 cookies from the batch and spread them out over two trays (10 cookies per tray).
- Bake one tray at a time at 350°F for 12 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and the edges will be firm but they will still be very soft in the middle.
- If they are still very puffy then press down on them gently with a fork to flatten them when they are still warm and soft.
- Leave the cookies on the tray to firm up and cool down.
- Your cookies are ready to serve!
Baker’s Tips
Weigh your ingredients for the best accuracy. Want perfect results in baking every time? Get a food scale! I highly recommend weighing out your flour, oats and sugar on a food scale for perfect cookies every time.
Spread the cookies over two trays. You can fit these cookies on one tray, but I don’t really recommend it because they can end up baking together. So it’s most ideal to spread them out over two large cookie trays.
Bake one tray at a time. But you still want to bake them one cookie tray at a time. Baking both trays simultaneously results in uneven baking.
Flatten with a fork after baking. If the cookies don’t flatten on their own while baking, then gently flatten them with a fork when they come out of the oven warm and soft.
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies FAQ
You can use fresh or frozen cranberries instead of the dried cranberries. If you’re using frozen cranberries then just add them to the cookie dough frozen, no need to thaw them first.
These cookies adapt super well to gluten free, just use a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them stored in the fridge or at room temperature for up to a week. They are freezer friendly up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Christmas Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
- 1 Tablespoon Unsulphured Molasses
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 ½ cups Rolled Oats (150g)
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour (125g)
- 1 cup Dessicated Coconut (80g) Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Milk or other non dairy milk
- ¾ cup Dried Cranberries (112g)
- ½ cup Macadamias (65g) Chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Add vegan butter and light brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer (or you can use a large bowl with a handheld mixer) and beat until well combined.
- Add maple syrup, molasses and vanilla extract and beat in until well mixed.
- In a separate bowl add rolled oats, all purpose flour, dessicated coconut, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients in with the wet and mix in with a spoon or spatula until crumbly.
- Add the soy milk and mix into a thick cookie dough.
- Add cranberries and chopped macadamias and mix in.
- Roll the dough into balls and place them evenly onto parchment lined baking sheets. Aim to get 20 cookies from the batch and spread them out over two trays (10 cookies per tray).
- Bake one tray at a time for 12 minutes. The tops will be golden brown and the edges will be firm but they will still be very soft in the middle.
- If they are still very puffy then press down on them gently with a fork to flatten them when they are still warm and soft. Let the cookies cool down and firm up on the tray before moving them.
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients for the best accuracy. I highly recommend weighing out your flour, oats and sugar on a food scale for perfect cookies every time.
- Coconut – dessicated coconut is also known as finely shredded coconut or unsweetened shredded coconut.
- Dried cranberries – whole dried cranberries work great and don’t need to be chopped so long as they are not too large. If they are quite large then rather chop them first otherwise they will fall out of the cookies. You can also use fresh or frozen cranberries instead of the dried cranberries. If you’re using frozen cranberries then just add them to the cookie dough frozen, no need to thaw them first.
- Macadamias – raw macadamias should be roughly chopped before adding them to the cookie dough. You can omit them if you like or switch for something like chopped pecans or hazelnuts.
- Gluten free: These cookies adapt super well to gluten free, just use a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
- Storing: Keep them stored in the fridge or at room temperature for up to a week. They are freezer friendly up to 3 months.
These were something so go that I had to share! Subbed chocolate chips bc I didn’t have macadamia nuts on hand. Also used gf flour. These are sooooo good!
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
So easy and so delicious. I ended up with more than twenty so l made the second tray with larger balls. The kitchen smelt lovely and I’ve offered the cookies to four different friends over the last few days and they’ve all loved them. Perfect with a cup of tea. I bought lemon extract today, as I’ll try the lemon cookies next. I’m not surprised I always have lots of confidence in these recipes.
Happy to hear you enjoy the recipes Rosie! Thank you for your amazing review!
So delicious! I love the strong cinnamon flavor! I’m not a big fan of coconut or nuts in desserts, so I’m happy to report that the recipe works perfectly with the omission of the desiccated coconut and substitution of pumpkin spice chips for macadamia 🙂
Sounds yummy Lisa! Thanks for letting us know and for sharing your substitutions! 🙂
OMG! these are amazing! I kept the recipe with the intention of making them for Christmas but that opportunity passed 🤦🏼♀️ Made them this afternoon and they are delicious, probably the best cookies I have ever made. Thank you x
Thanks so much for the amazing review Sue! 🙂
I am so happy to have found your website. Since using your recipe in January I have made at least a batch each week. My teenage son loves them and asks for them…..and you know how teenagers are notoriously hard to please ❤️ Thank you!
So glad to hear your son loves the cookies Sue!
Hi Alison, these look lovely, I look forward to trying them. I’m wondering if they will still work without the molasses? Or if you know of an alternative substitute for this? Thanks, Amber
Hi Amber, yes they absolutely work just fine without the molasses, you can use extra maple syrup instead. 🙂
Hello from the UK! I’m not a fan of coconut. Could you substitute the coconut for something else? Thanks in advance.
You can omit the coconut. You may not need to use all the soy milk in that case, only add as much soy milk as needed to take it from crumbly into a cookie dough.
I just made these and they’re delicious! I substituted King Arthur 1:1 gluten-free flour and used Modern Mill Salad Topper Summer Symphony mix. This mix has cranberries, blueberries, cherries, and sunflower seeds. So delicious! Thank you for another fabulous recipe.
Sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing Joanne!