Years ago, we showcased a cranberry granola cookies recipe from Enjoy Life Foods featuring their once-beloved granola. It was a unique little top allergen-free cookie. But since their granola is no longer available, I wanted to revamp the recipe. As a result, these delicious cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies were born.
Truthfully, I pretty much butchered the original recipe. It was heavy on granola, so I needed more than just one ingredient to take it’s place. Consequently, in came the quick oats, trail mix, salt, and baking soda. I used the Mountain Mambo No Nuts Seed & Fruit Mix (a.k.a. top allergen-free trail mix), because it has a melange of ingredients that go so well with cranberries. The comforting autumnal blend actually includes cranberries, along with apples, mini chocolate chips, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
And after tasting the dough, I decided to make cranberries and chocolate chips the star of the show, adding in an extra dose of each. Suddenly, a recipe that made just a dozen or so cookies, had turned into enough to feed a small army.
But that didn’t seem to be a problem in our household. The dough and finished cookies freeze well, and we’ve been enjoying them faster than I can make them. These cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies aren’t too sweet either, so they’re perfect for packing in lunch boxes. They’re a treat, but not overly sugary.
And as you can see below, I went a little crazy testing sizes and shapes. My first batch, shown in the photo above and on top in the photo below, was rounded tablespoons. Aren’t they cute? Then, I flattened and shaped them. But I wondered, would these hold up as bigger cookies? I tested 2 tablespoons and then jumbo 3 tablespoons, and all resulted in perfect cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Plus, when flattened and shaped, they take the same amount of time to bake!
This post with my “new and improved” cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies is sponsored by Enjoy Life Foods.
Special Diet Notes: Cranberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, vegetarian, and top food allergy-friendly.
- 1¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- ¼ cup rice bran, grapeseed or other neutral baking oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups gluten-free flour blend (I used Enjoy Life All-Purpose Flour Mix) or an option in the notes below
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 3 cups quick oats (certified gluten-free, if needed)
- 1 6-ounce bag (about 1⅓ cups) allergy-friendly trail mix (I use Enjoy Life Mountain Mambo Seed & Fruit Mix)
- ½ cup dairy-free mini chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life Mini Chips)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- Place the applesauce, sugars, oil, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and mix by hand or with a hand mixer until thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum to thoroughly distribute the ingredients.
- Add the flour blend to your mixing bowl and mix by hand or with a hand mixer for a minute or two to thoroughly combine. This helps the xanthan gum work its magic.
- Fold in the oats, trail mix, chocolate chips, and cranberries.
- Let the dough sit while you preheat your oven to 375ºF and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Scoop the dough by the level tablespoon onto your baking sheets. You can leave them as domes, flatten or shape them with slightly damp hands (the dough is sticky!). For bigger cookies, use 2 level tablespoons per cookie and flatten and shape with damp hands.
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes minutes, or until slightly firm and lightly browned around the edges.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- These cranberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies will keep at room temperature for a few days, and can be frozen. Simply take one (or two) out of the freezer and pop it in a lunch box for a midday treat. If you have excess dough, that also freezes well.
27 Comments
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Love the cranberries and chocolate you use in these oatmeal cookies instead of raisins!
I love your dedication to testing the different shapes and sizes! I always wonder that when I’m making recipes.
Dedicated or obsessed? I’ll take dedicated 🙂
I love the cranberry and chocolate combination. And in a cookie that is not too sweet, I’m in heaven.
Thanks Laura, these really are just a nice, not-too-guilty hit.
These look amazing! My husband just loves cranberries and I can’t seem to make a sweet without chocolate chips. I must make these!
I know what you mean, I feel like chocolate is in almost everything sweet that I make these days!
These sound delicious! I love cranberries in cookies. Looking forward to making these 🙂
I hope you enjoy them Sarah!
You are too funny! I am just like you in that my cookies have to be the right shape. No dome shaped cookies for me. I like flat, but not too flat. Thanks for experimenting for us. You have achieved cranberry oatmeal cookie perfection!
Fortunately, I really liked the domes, but of course they were just a fluke of the first batch testing if the cookies spread at all 🙂
I was so shocked the first time I got Enjoy Life…I mean they tasted like what I remembered with dairy!!! Love this whole cookie combo!!
Right?! Their chocolate is seriously scrumptious! And it marries so well with seeds and cranberries, naturally 🙂
What a lovely recipe! I love how healthy you made it but still keeping tons of flavor. So cool that the different cookies take the same time to bake too.
Yes, that seriously surprised me! It really is dependent on the type of cookie dough. But in this case it is such a thick, chunky dough that the sizing matters only slightly (maybe 30 seconds, give or take) in the baking time.
These cookies look and sound delicious, Alisa! Great combination of flavours and such healthy ingredients 🙂
Thank you Laila!
Ooh, I think I have all of the ingredients so I can make them tomorrow!!!
I hope you enjoy them!
Love the combination of cranberries and chocolate chips in these cookies! I’ll take a dozen please!
Well, you can have 6 dozen – it makes a ton 🙂
Love that you made this in different shapes and sizes!
It makes so much dough, I couldn’t resist all kinds of tests Cricket. A size and shape for every cookie mood or appetite!
I love the different sizes – especially the little domed one’s. Great ingredients too!
Those are my favorite, too, merely for the cute factor. Because food should be cute, right?
O these cookies are so perfect! I love dried cranberries! And who doesn’t love chocolate?