Gingered Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Gingered cranberry oatmeal cookies are festive holiday cookies made from an Easy Oatmeal Cookie Recipe. It’s that time of year!

Cookie exchange invitations are going out and you’re scrambling for a new recipe that will dazzle your friends. I baked up these festive Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies for a blogger cookie swap this year!

Why You Must Make

• Chewy ginger cookies are always a part of my holiday baking repertoire, and my love of ginger inspired me to gingerize these oatmeal cookies. With a dose of ground ginger along with some crystallized ginger, they have a nice punch of spice that’s perfect for Christmas.
• Ginger, cinnamon, and dried cranberries transformed ordinary oatmeal cookies into seasonal gems!
• The white chocolate chips were just a bonus. These are the cookies I sent to the 3 bloggers I was assigned for the Food Blogger Love Cookie Exchange. They’re perfect for any holiday gatherings.

Ingredient Notes

• Kitchen Staples – Flour, Baking Soda, Table Salt, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Ground Cinnamon
• Ground Ginger – Spices can lose potency as they sit in your pantry. If it has a nice, strong aroma it’s still good to use.
•  Old-Fashioned Oats – Provide more texture than Quick Oats, but they are interchangeable in most cookie recipes.
•  Butter – At room temperature for easier incorporation. Generally, I use salted butter and decrease the amount of salt in the recipe.
•  Eggs – At room temperature for easier incorporation.
•  Honey – Use local honey if available as it helps with allergies. It may desensitize you to local pollen.
•  Vanilla Extract – Use pure vanilla extract, never artificially flavored.
•  Dried Cranberries – Also known as Craisins. You can use raisins instead if you prefer.
•  White Chocolate Chips – I use the Ghirardelli brand.
•  Crystallized Ginger – Chopped or minced, it gives a sweet zing of ginger. It’s ginger cooked in a sugar syrup.

How to Make:

There are a few tips that are general for all cookie baking. Remember that all ovens bake differently, so often the first batch will determine the exact baking time for your cookies. I always prefer underbaking to overbaking since I like chewy over crispy cookies, but it depends on your palate.

• Have your butter and eggs at room temperature unless the recipe states otherwise. This ensures better incorporation of the ingredients.
• Whisking together the dry ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredients helps to evenly distribute the salt, spices, and leaveners.
• PRO-Tip: Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to mix the dry ingredients into the wet. If you use a mixer, too much air can be incorporated and the gluten formation is overactivated. This can change the texture of your cookies.
• Use a cookie scoop to dish out your dough. It helps make all the cookies the same size.
• PRO-Tip: If any cookies bake up misshapen, use a spatula to tap them into rounds as soon as they come out of the oven. They will still be pliable until they start to cool. Be careful as the baking sheet will be very hot!
• If you’re gifting these cookies, reserve some dried cranberries and white chocolate chips to press into the top of the cookies when they come out of the oven. This will give a more finished, bakery look to your cookies!

Frequently Asked Questions

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The Recipe:

Gingered Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 11 minutes

Total Time 31 minutes

Yield 4 dozen

Chewy oatmeal cookies with the tastes of the holidays: dried cranberries, cinnamon and ginger and white chocolate chips for a bonus! Adapted from Fine Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Mix in the oats.
3. In another bowl, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy with an electric mixer.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then scrape down the sides of the bowl; add the honey and vanilla and beat until blended.
5. Add the flour mixture in two additions, beating until well combined.
6. Stir in the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and crystallized ginger.
7. Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets.
8. Bake until the centers of the cookies are soft and no longer look wet, about 9 to 11 minutes.
9. Once out of the oven, I use my spatula to tap the cookies into nice circles (only if you care about that sort of thing!).
10. Let cool on the sheets for 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

As with most cookie recipes, it's best to have your butter and eggs at room temperature for easier incorporation.

These freeze well for up to 3 months.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

• 
  10-Inch Wire Whisk
• 
  Reynolds Cookie Baking Sheets Non-Stick Parchment Paper, 25 Sheet, 4 Count
• 
  USA Pan Bakeware Half Sheet Pan

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

2 cookies
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 246Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 173mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 1gSugar: 23gProtein: 3g

HOW MUCH DID YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE?

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Soft Butterscotch Pudding Cookies — Sugar Plum Fairy Holiday Cookies — Homemade Ginger O’s

The Holiday Cookies!

I received three deliveries of terrific holiday cookies the week before Thanksgiving! First up were the Soft Butterscotch Pudding Cookies from my friend Sarah at Fantastical Sharing of Recipes. We have crossed paths in the Sunday Supper group so it was lovely to receive these delicious cookies from Sarah. Colleen of Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck sent a box of yummy jam-filled thumbprint cookies, appropriately named Sugar Plum Fairy Holiday Cookies.

Finally, I received these tasty Homemade Ginger O’s from a blog I’ve been visiting for years, The Emotional Baker. My daughter was especially excited when she took a whiff of Megan’s treats. We truly enjoyed them ALL! These recipes will be shared on each website today. In fact, there will be loads of new cookie recipes to find using the hashtag #FBLCookieExchange. Dozens of cookies have been mailed across the states over the past few weeks. Thanks to the gals at the PinterTestKitchen for organizing this massive event!!

P.S. My cookies were sent to Colleen and Megan, who I mentioned above, as well as Renee of If Spoons Could Talk.