Bake

Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies With Cranberries

June 25, 2019
4
9 Ratings
Photo by Rocky Luten
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 16 minutes
  • Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Author Notes

Imagine oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies had a baby together. Now that baby has a steady income with a modest amount of savings, occasionally goes to bed at a reasonable time, and has a tailor (or at least knows someone who has a tailor). Enter these double chocolate oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries, a slightly more "grown-up" version of a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie.

Dutch-process cocoa powder adds a smoother, slightly earthier flavor than its natural counterpart (though natural cocoa powder does work in this recipe), and it gives the dough a much deeper color. In lieu of cinnamon as the warming spice ever present in oatmeal raisin cookies, I opt for ground cardamom, which lends an herbal, citrusy note. Dried cranberries (or cherries) give a much-needed tartness to balance the sweetness of the cookie. These ingredients combined with old-fashioned rolled oats and semisweet chocolate create an end result that is at once chewy, decadent, and my new standard against which all other chocolate oatmeal cookies will be judged. —Aaron Hutcherson

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Ingredients
  • 2 sticks (227g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon (15ml) vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (57g) Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon (2g) ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
  • 3 cups (300g) old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 heaping cup (170g) dried cranberries
  • 1 heaping cup (170g) semisweet (66%) chocolate baking wafers
  • Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a couple half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
  2. Cream together the butter and both sugars in a bowl until smooth. (You don't even need to bust out an electric mixer if you don't want to—a wooden spoon and some gold ol' arm strength will do just fine.) Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until homogeneous.
  3. In a separate bowl, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cardamom, and kosher salt; stir. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until smooth. Stir in the oats until evenly mixed; add in the cranberries and chocolate until just combined.
  4. Scoop about 3 tablespoons cookie dough into balls about 2 inches in diameter (I use my #20 large cookie scoop) and place on the prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Press gently to flatten into 3/4- to 1-inch thick rounds. (You can freeze the cookies at this point for baking later.) Sprinkle with some flaky sea salt and bake until edges are just set but the middles are still soft, about 16 minutes. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring to a baking rack to cool completely.

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4 Reviews

Kate H. September 7, 2024
These are some of my favorite cookies. Always get rave reviews from others too.
Julie February 13, 2021
Made these today. They are amazing. Not overly sweet and texture is perfect. Chewy on the inside but not in an under baked way.
judy January 14, 2021
These look delicious. I will try. But will use raisins instead of cranberries. One of my favorite candies is chocolate covered raisins. Anyway....The surprise ingredient for me is the Cardamom. I always have some on hand and use it a lot. Never thought for chocolate. And I have some Bailey's chocolate chips. So I think I will give these a whirl.
Sylwia September 19, 2020
I love cardamom and combining cranberries with chocolate sounded promising but the cookies came out a bit dry.