These Pistachio Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies combine the bright flavor of orange zest, sweet and tart dried cranberries, nutty and crunchy pistachios into the chewiest oatmeal cookie base. I promise you won’t be able to stop at one.
These Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies aren’t your typical oatmeal craisin cookies. The flavor of orange zest combined with dried cranberries will brighten up even the gloomiest winter days. On top of that, the pistachios provide a crunchy texture as well as a butteriness unlike any other.
Can you believe I used to not like oatmeal cookies at all? At my old company, the kitchen would make plates of cookies for different events, they typically had 3 kinds: chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies. I refused to touch the oatmeal cookies!
But obviously, my palate has changed and I’ve come to love all kinds of chewy oatmeal cookies. I’ve had my fair share of these Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies with pecans and these Tropical Oatmeal Cookies with mango and macadamia.
What you’ll need
Besides the typical cookie ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, eggs and the likes (see recipe card at the bottom for a full ingredient list), here are the mix-ins for these oatmeal cookies:
- Rolled Oats is a must for oatmeal cookies. Make sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats and not quick cooking oats.
- Dried cranberries – You can use regular dried cranberries or dried orange cranberries to impart even more orange flavor.
- Pistachios – I recommend roasting the pistachios to bring out its nutty flavor. This is especially important if you use raw pistachios. You can get these already deshelled at Sprouts. You can use salted pistachio but I prefer unsalted so I can control the saltiness of the cookies. If using salted pistachios, reduce salt in the recipe.
- Orange juice and orange zest (not pictured) – I soak the dried cranberries in orange juice to add flavor and to soften them before adding them to the dough, making them less chewy. And orange zest is added directly into the cookie dough.
Making the dough for cranberry oatmeal cookies
- Cream together softened butter, orange zest and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla, and beat to combine.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in another mixing bowl and add to the wet ingredient mixture to complete the cookie base.
- Combine toasted pistachios, orange juice soaked and drained dried cranberries and rolled oats in a bowl. Stir this mixture into the cookie base until evenly distributed.
- Scrape the side and bottom of the mixing bowl with a spatula to make sure everything has been mixed properly.
- Divide the cookie dough with a large cookie scoop and refrigerate while you preheat the oven.
Baker’s Tips
- This cookie dough can be baked right away without needing to chill first. However, I always keep them refrigerated while the oven is preheating or while I’m waiting for one batch to finish baking.
- Always bake one tray at a time to ensure even cooking. You’ll also want to rotate the tray ⅔ of the way through baking.
- Make sure the butter is softened but not melted.
- Feel free to use different dried fruits, nuts and spices to change up the flavors with the season or to your liking.
Storage
As with all homemade cookies, these oatmeal cookies taste best within 1 – 2 days. But they can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 – 5 days.
You can freeze the baked cookies but I prefer freezing the cookie dough instead. This way you can have warm freshly baked cookies anytime!
Making ahead
The cookie dough can be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator, covered, for 3 – 5 days. If you plan to stash it for longer, freeze it for as long as you want, up to a year.
I recommend always portion the cookie dough into balls before refrigerating or freezing. You’ll want to freeze the dough balls solid on a baking tray first, then store them in a freezer bag, this way they won’t stick together.
You can bake the cookie dough from frozen, just increase baking time by 1 – 2 minutes. Note that they may not spread very much when baked from frozen, so you can thaw them first if you want, though not necessary.
These Pistachio Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies are such great winter cookies. I love how the orange flavor can just brighten up your day no matter what the weather looks like outside. And a hint of cinnamon warms you from inside out.
These cookies have got it all, bright and warm flavors, crunchy and chew textures. Try them for yourself, I think you’ll love them!
More cookies you’ll love
- Brown Butter Macadamia Snowball Cookies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
- Lemon Cookies
- Pistachio Cookies
- All the holiday cookies
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Pistachio Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 oz unsalted butter (room temperature, 170 g)
- 1 ½ cup light brown sugar (300 g, lightly packed)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (169 g)
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup pistachio (roasted & unsalted, roughly chopped, 130 g)
- 1 ¼ cup rolled oats (123 g)
- 1 cup dried cranberries (111 g)
- Juice of 1 orange
Instructions
- Zest and juice the orange. Set the orange zest aside, stir the dried cranberries into the orange juice and let soak for 10 minutes. Strain and pat the cranberries dry with a paper towel.
- Roast the pistachios in a skillet over medium heat for a few minutes until slightly toasty and fragrant. Roughly chop the nuts and add to a medium mixing bowl along with the rolled oats, and drained dried cranberries. Stir together and set aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir in the salt, and mix until evenly distributed. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer, add softened butter, brown sugar and orange zest, beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract, and continue beating until thoroughly combined, another 1 – 2 minutes.
- Lower the mixer speed to stir and slowly add the flour mixture, mix until just combined. Add the oat mixture and stir until evenly distributed. Give the mixture a final stir with a spatula, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Use a large ice cream scoop to divide the dough into about 15 – 16 portions. Refrigerate while the oven is preheating.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place cookie dough on a baking sheet about 2” apart, and bake one tray at a time for 14-15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet at the 10 minutes mark.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 5 – 10 minutes. Then remove the cookies from the baking sheet and place them on another wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure butter is softened but not melted.
- Unsalted pistachios are preferred to control the saltiness of the cookies. If using salted pistachios, reduce salt in the recipe by half.
- Make sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats and not quick cooking oats.
- Cookie dough can be kept in the fridge for 3 – 5 days or in the freezer for up to a year.
- Frozen cookie dough can be baked straight from the freezer, add 1 – 2 minutes to the bake time.
- Store baked cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Originally published on 1/14/2019. Post updated and republished on 12/10/2020 with extra tips to help you in the kitchen, tidier writing, but no change to the recipe except the metric measurement for major ingredients.
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Can you use fresh cranberries?
I don’t recommend it, fresh cranberries is extremely tart while dried cranberries are sweetened! It will not have the same results.
These were such a hit in my Christmas cookie spread this year! I tripled the batch without a hitch. Thank you for the great recipe!
Thanks Marie! So happy to hear these made your Christmas cookie spread this year 🙂
These cookies look and sound so delicious!
Oh wow! I thought the fig ones were brilliant, now I think I love these even more. Orange, cranberry and pistachio are such a perfect combo.
all three ingredients are favorites.