Crunchy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
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These Crunchy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies are perfectly crispy and crunchy inside out and loaded with sweet, tart flavors from the cranberries. You won’t be able to stop at just one cookie. Enjoy it as a dessert or as a snack throughout the day.
Do you like crispy and crunchy cookies better than soft and chewy cookies? Then, this Crunchy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies recipe is for you.
These Crunchy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies are perfectly crispy and crunchy inside and out. Dried cranberries are added for extra flavor and texture. The sweet-tart flavor and chewy texture of dried cranberries make these treats hard to resist. Or you can add chocolate chips or raisins if you like, but these are also pretty great plain without any add-ins.
This recipe is easy to make and only requires a handful of pantry staples. There is no chilling time, so these cookies come together quickly.
Ingredients You Need
- Butter. Ensure the butter is at room temperature so it will blend well with the other ingredients. I use unsalted butter in this recipe, but you can also substitute it with salted butter and omit the salt.
- Confectioners’ sugar. To provide sweetness, help the cookies spread, and give the cookies a crisp exterior.
- Egg yolk. Egg yolk cuts the water and throws in fat, hindering both gluten development and aeration, producing cookies that are dense, tender, and rich.
- Vanilla extract. To enhance the flavor.
- Cake flour. Cake flour is a lower-protein flour. It has about 7-9% protein compared to the 10-12% protein in all-purpose flour. Using cake flour will make the cookies crisper, lighter, and more tender. You can also substitute cake flour with all-purpose flour but the cookies will turn a little bit denser.
- Cornstarch. Cornstarch in cookies acts as a tenderizing agent. It interferes with protein structures in the dough, which helps produce a more tender and delicate texture in your baked cookies.
- Oats. Use quick oats or instant oats which will act as a binder in the cookie dough, absorbing moisture and building structure. If you use rolled oats, they won’t help your dough bind together.
- Baking powder. To produce a light, fine cookie texture.
- Salt. For taste.
- Dried cranberries. For extra flavor and texture.
Variations
- Sugar. You can swap the confectioners’ sugar with castor or brown sugar if preferred. The confectioners’ sugar will give the cookies a tender and crumbly texture, while the castor and brown sugar will give the cookies a crisper, denser texture. Using brown sugar will also add caramelized flavor to the cookies. Click here for the brown sugar version recipe.
- Flour. Substitute the cake flour with rice flour or any gluten-free flour for the gluten-free version.
- Add-ins. Feel free to add some chocolate chips for extra flavor. Nuts such as pistachios or almonds make a great addition as well. You can substitute or add any sweetened dried fruit in this cookie recipe. If you use a larger dried fruit such as apricot, just be sure to chop the fruit before adding it to your dough.
- Spice. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and ginger to spice the cookies.
Secrets of Crispy and Crunchy Cookies
The reason the cookies end up being crispy and crunchy instead of soft and chewy are due to a couple of reasons:
- Less liquid. The amount of egg as a liquid in this recipe is very crucial because it can cause the cookies to puff up or spread. If you put an extra egg, you will get chewier cookies. Meanwhile, you will get a more crumbly cookie with less egg.
- Egg yolk. One thing to remember is the different effects of egg yolks and egg whites in cookies. The white provides strength, stability, and moisture. Meanwhile, the yolks where all of the fat is in an egg, increase richness, tenderness, and flavor. Therefore, egg yolks are used to create dry, rich, and delicate cookies. They also have the unique ability to bind liquids and fats together.
Cake flour. Flour affects how cookies bake and behave. Cake flour creates more delicate, tender textures and the cookies will become crisper since it does not give as much structure or gluten as the all-purpose.
Baking powder. We usually use baking powder and baking soda for the leaveners in cookies. Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies.
Flatten the cookie. Round dough balls take longer to bake, resulting in softer, thicker cookies. Flatten cookies yield thinner, crispier cookies.
Longer baking time. If you want them to be crispy, bake them longer at lower temperatures.
More Oatmeal Cookies
- Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
- Oat Flour Double Chocolate Cookies
- Eggless Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Crunchy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Tap or hover to scale!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 gr) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup (85 gr) confectioners' sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (90 gr) cake flour
- 3 tbsp (25 gr) cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup (100 gr) quick cooking/instant oats
- 1/2 cup (70 gr) dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320F/160°C. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mat.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy.
- Add egg yolk and vanilla. Beat the mixture until well combined.
- Sift in cake flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Beat on low speed just until combined. Don't overmix.
- Add oats and dried cranberries. Mix with a spatula until combined.
- Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into balls. Arrange the balls onto the prepared pan, leaving about 2 1/2 inch/6.5 cm of space between the cookies.
- Flatten the dough ball with a fork. Make sure the flattened dough still has at least 1 inch/2.5 cm of space between because the cookies will spread a little during baking.
- Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Transfer the cookies immediately onto a cooling rack and cool them completely before transferring them into an airtight container.
Crispy, crunchy, and a little bit chewy from the dried cranberries.