These big, fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies check every box: hearty, flavorful, fantastically soft and thick, and perfect for pairing with a mug of your favorite hot beverage. Hunker down on a cold day with this cozy cookie for a satisfying bakery-style treat… without ever leaving the comfort of home!
Today’s giant cookies burst with chewy dried cranberries, melty puddles of dark chocolate, and crunchy walnuts. Their extra-large size keeps the centers incredibly soft while the edges bake up lightly crisp and wonderfully craggy. Think of them as the sweater-weather, festive-feeling cousin of classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
And if youโve baked my big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, buckle upโtodayโs are even bigger and fatter!
What You Can Expect:
- Supremely soft and thick: These are Levain Bakery-style cookies! Using some cake flour, cornstarch, and baking powder makes for ultra-thick, soft and tender cookies.
- So much flavor & texture: Loaded with chewy oats and dried cranberries, crunchy walnuts, and melty puddles of chocolate.
- Taste just like grandma’s. Just 1 Tablespoon of molasses gives these dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies that nostalgic, grandmaโs-kitchen oatmeal cookie taste. My team and I highly recommend adding it!
- Bakery-style size. Weโre scooping XL portions of doughโthese cookies are a special treat indeed!
Key Ingredients You Need & Why:
- All-Purpose & Cake Flour: Using *some* cake flour in addition to all-purpose flour is key. In testing, we were aiming for tall, thick cookies with crisp edges and soft centers, something like what you see here on the Swan’s Down cake flour website. (This post is not sponsored.)
- Oats: Oats provide a chewy texture, and there is no shortage in this dough! I use and recommend old-fashioned whole rolled oats here, just like these big giant monster cookies.
- Cornstarch: For added softness.
- Baking Powder & Soda: Between the oats and all the add-ins, these are some hefty cookies. Using baking powder as well as soda is necessary to lift the cookies up in the oven.
- Butter: Butter is the base of any delicious cookie recipe. Make sure you are using room-temperature butterโit’s cooler to the touch thank you think!
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: Sugar is not only used for sweetness, but also for providing structure and tenderness. I like to use more brown sugar than white sugar because (1) it has incredible flavor and (2) it contains more moisture than white, which produces a softer cookie.
- Molasses: This is my secret ingredient in oatmeal cookies because it enhances flavor and brings that warm, lightly spiced richness.
- Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, & Salt: Each provide flavor. You can also top the cookies with a little flaky sea salt when they’re fresh out of the oven if desired.
Making & Shaping These Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
You’ll especially love this recipe because the process is quick & simple with minimal dough chilling. The dough will be very thick and a little sticky:
Chill it for at least 1 hour, or longer if you’re able to wait.
Success Tip: Spray the measuring cup with some nonstick spray before you scoop the sticky dough, to help it release easily. Give the mound of cookie dough a roll between your hands to shape it into a ball. It’s a big ball of dough, so bake these cookies in batches rather than overcrowding the baking sheet. Just about 6 on one baking sheet at a time.
Tips for Baking Big, Thick Oatmeal Cookies
Bake at an initial high temperature, then lower it: This is typically a trick I reserve for muffins, but it works with these cookies in minimizing how much the cookies spread out, while letting them rise up.
- Here’s how: Start baking the cookies at 400ยฐF; then, after 5 minutes, lower the temperature to 350ยฐF for the remaining time. The initial high heat helps set the shape/edges of the cookies, then the remaining time allows the thick centers to bake through at the normal baking temperature.
Slightly underbake, then allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet. The cookies will continue to set from the residual heat of the baking sheet. This keeps the centers soft and chewy, and prevents the cookies from becoming dry around the edges.
If youโre craving a bakery-style cookie packed with texture and flavor, these big, fat dark chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies are sure to satisfy. Theyโre cozy, festive, and honestly delicious any day of the year.
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Big Fat Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes
- Yield: 16-18 cookies
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Extra-thick, bakery-style oatmeal cookies packed with dark chocolate, chewy dried cranberries, and crunchy walnuts. These soft-centered, crispy-edged cookies get their incredible texture from a blend of all-purpose and cake flour, plus a touch of molasses for warm, old-fashioned flavor. A cozy, ultra-thick cookie perfect for year-round baking. Do not skip the dough chilling and see recipe Notes for questions and answers regarding various ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 cup (118g) cake flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon (21g) unsulphured or dark molassesย
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 ounces (170g) chopped bittersweet or dark chocolateย
- 1 cup (150g) dried cranberriesย
- 3/4 cup (90g) chopped walnutsย
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamy and combined, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, molasses, and vanilla, and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, plus the chopped chocolate, dried cranberries, and walnuts. Beat on low speed until combined. This is a thick, heavy, and sticky dough, so you may need to start and stop your mixer a couple times.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (and up to 4 days). If chilling longer than 1 day, let the dough sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling, as it will be very firm.
- Preheat the oven to 400ยฐF (204ยฐC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Use a 1/3-cup measuring cup to scoop the cookie dough, about 3 ounces (85g) each, and arrange 5โ6 cookies on each baking sheet.
- Bake for 5 minutesl; then, without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10โ20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Can I Skip the Cake Flour? You can skip the cake flour, but the cookies wonโt be quite as soft and thick. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour, which keeps these extra-large cookies tender instead of dense. If you donโt have any on hand, you can make a quick substitute: measure 1 cup (125g) of all-purpose flour, remove 2 Tablespoons of it, and replace those 2 Tablespoons with cornstarch. Whisk well before using. Itโs not exactly the same as real cake flour, but it works nicely here.
- Can I Use Quick Oats? Weย donโt recommend it. Quick oats absorb liquid differently and will produce thinner, drier cookies. Old-fashioned whole rolled oats are best for thick, chewy texture.
- Molasses: 1 Tablespoon of molasses gives these cookies exceptional depth of flavor. Use unsulfured or dark molasses (not blackstrap). If you donโt have any, simply leave it outโdo not replace with anything else.
- Chocolate: We use and recommend Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet baking chocolate. You can substitute 1 cup (180g) of chocolate chips.
- Different Size Cookies: Use 1.5 Tablespoons (30โ35g) of dough for regular-size cookies, or 3 Tablespoons (60โ70g) for large cookies. Reduce the 400ยฐF (204ยฐC) bake time to 3 minutes and the remaining 350ยฐF (177ยฐC) bake time to around 7 minutes. Keep a close eye on them.
- Mix-In Variations: Keep total mix-ins to around 2โ3 cups. Try dried cherries or chopped dried apricots instead of cranberries, pecans or macadamias instead of walnuts, or swap in white or semisweet chocolate. You can also simply skip the nuts completely and not replace them with anything.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I gotta be honest. I had my doubts about this cookie recipe. A lot of costly ingredients (I’m vegan so I used vegan ‘butter’ vegan chocolate chips substitutes). Then walnuts and dried cranberries. Made the cookie dough last night and had it chilling in fridge. Baked them this morning and got 18 cookies. I told my husband these cookies better be EXTRAORDINARY to war e ant the work and cost. Well, THEY ARE! Really scrumptious. All the right textures: brown sugary interior, melty chocolate l, the unexpected pop of sweet cranberry to offset the intense chocolate, and crunch of walnuts..Sally, Thank you for this treat. This is why you’re a professional baker and I am not. I would not have thought to make these fla or combos but I’m glad you did. Wonderful cookie!
Oh my!! I think I just found my new favorite cookie! The tang of the cranberries paired with the dark chocolate is just perfect. Deeeelicios!!
Would I be able to make these without the oats? I love the idea of dark chocolate and cranberries. Just not a fan of oats. Would I add more flour?
Thanks.
Hi Diane, this recipe does require oats, but you could swap chopped dark chocolate for the white chocolate chips in this recipe for white chocolate chip cranberry cookies!
It was a snow day here so my 7 year old and I looked up a cookie recipe on here and decided on these. We made them and they were delicious. We’ll be bringing the rest to a christmas party this weekend!
I have been longing for a puffy cookie recipe. My first choice is always a puffy snickerdoodle, still can’t find one. These Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are intriguing and I will try them for the holidays. My question is, do these have a cakey structure with the cake flour, or is it a more “cookie’ texture? Thank you.
Hi ACM! Definitely still a cookie texture. Very soft and thick.
These are very delicious!!!
Would it be okay i use all purpose flour instead of cake flour?
You can skip the cake flour, but the cookies wonโt be quite as soft and thick. See recipe Notes for more details!
If I want to make these cookies smaller, what adjustments are needed? Thank you!
Hi Jennifer, see recipe Notes for instructions on smaller cookies. Enjoy!
Can this recipe be doubled? Thanks! It sounds delicious!!
Yes, but if you are using a mixer (either handheld or stand), it will be a lot of heavy dough for the mixer to handle.
Hello, I really enjoy your recipes and also bought your book .Super photography and format , so well done. In simple cookie bakes -do you use /can you use convection bake at the same temp. Iโve made the Levain style cookies several ways and am looking forward to baking your recipe soon. Iโve used convection bake for the 6 oz โdiet breakerโ recipe. Thanks for sharing your talents. JG
Hi John! We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
Are you talking about sweetened dried cranberries? Or are there also plain dried cranberries available somewhere?
Hi Kim, the kind you will typically find are sweetened, which is what I used. (Such as the brand Craisins.)
Could I substitute chopped pumpkin seeds for the nuts?
Absolutely.
Oh my goodness this looks amazing!!!! I have to try this!
Sounds delicious!
Will make nice Christmas gifts for friends n family.
Can you skip dried fruit all together and maybe put in shredded coconut or ?
Hi Cayce, sweetened shredded coconut should work well in place of the cranberries. See recipe Notes for other add-in suggestions.