Irresistibly Chewy & Crispy Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Cookies: Your Go-To Recipe
Prepare to fall in love with the ultimate oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies! This recipe yields cookies that are perfectly chewy in the center, boast delightfully crispy edges, and are utterly delicious. They are so easy to make, making them a fantastic addition to your holiday baking spread or a delightful treat to enjoy any time of the year. Forget complicated recipes; these cookies are designed for simplicity without sacrificing an ounce of flavor or texture. Get ready for a baking experience that will fill your home with warmth and your kitchen with the sweet aroma of cinnamon, oats, and buttery goodness.
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Looking to expand your cookie repertoire? You’ll definitely want to try some of my other favorite cookie creations, including my Sparkly Peppermint White Chocolate Sugar Cookies, the incredibly rich Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies with Brown Butter and Sea Salt, and my zesty Key Lime Cookies! Each recipe offers a unique flavor adventure.
Why These Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Cookies Are a Must-Bake
If you cherish cookies that strike the perfect balance between a soft, chewy interior and wonderfully crisp, buttery edges, then these oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies are about to become your new obsession. The golden-brown, caramelized edges provide an irresistible crunch that beautifully contrasts with the warm, cinnamon-spiced chewiness of the oatmeal. Adding a burst of tartness from dried cranberries and the delightful crunch of pecans, every bite is a symphony of flavors and textures.
What sets this recipe apart and elevates it to a whole new level of deliciousness? The secret ingredient lies in the candied pecans. The first time I experimented with this recipe, I only had candied pecans on hand. I decided to toss them in, and the result was nothing short of miraculous – truly, the best oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies I had ever tasted! The delicate, sugary coating on the pecans melts slightly and spreads throughout the cookie dough during baking, caramelizing even further in the oven. This creates an unparalleled depth of flavor, infusing the cookies with a sweet, nutty richness that is simply divine. Combined with the vibrant tartness of the cranberries and the satisfying crispness of the cookie edges, these cookies become utterly irresistible. The subtle saltiness often present in candied pecans also adds a layer of complexity, enhancing all the other sweet notes.
Beyond their incredible taste, these cookies are incredibly versatile. They’re perfect for a cozy evening treat, a delightful addition to a potluck, or an impressive homemade gift during the holidays. Their robust flavor profile means they pair wonderfully with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of cold milk. You’ll find yourself reaching for another long after the first one is gone.
Essential Ingredients for Your Cranberry Pecan Cookies Recipe
Crafting these exceptional pecan cranberry oatmeal cookies requires a few simple, common ingredients that you likely already have stocked in your pantry and fridge. The key to their success lies in the quality of these components and a little attention to detail.
- Butter: For optimal results, your butter should be at a perfect room temperature. This means it’s soft enough to make a slight indentation with your finger, but not greasy or melting. Room temperature butter creams beautifully with sugar, creating a light and airy base for your cookies, which is crucial for their final texture. Using good quality butter truly makes a difference in the overall flavor.
- Light Brown Sugar: This isn’t just for sweetness; light brown sugar is vital for the cookies’ signature caramelized flavor and chewy texture. Its molasses content adds moisture and richness, contributing to those desirable crispy, yet chewy, edges. Make sure it’s firmly packed when measuring for accuracy.
- Eggs: Like your butter, your eggs should be at room temperature. This helps them emulsify more easily with the other ingredients, leading to a smoother, more cohesive dough. Eggs act as a binding agent, providing structure and moisture to the cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: A high-quality pure vanilla extract is essential here. Vanilla deepens and complements all the other flavors, adding a wonderful aroma. For an extra special touch, consider making your own with my easy homemade vanilla extract recipe, requiring just two ingredients!
- All-Purpose Flour: The foundation of our cookies. For consistent baking results, always measure your flour correctly. I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to measure by weight (167g for 1 ⅓ cup) rather than volume, as this prevents over-flouring and ensures perfect texture every time.
- Ground Cinnamon: This warm spice adds a delightful, comforting aroma and flavor that perfectly complements the oats and cranberries. A touch of cinnamon elevates these cookies, making them feel even more special. If you love cinnamon as much as I do, be sure to also check out my Chai Spice Bundt Cake and my Cinnamon Roll Apple Pies!
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats: The star of any classic oatmeal cookie! Rolled oats provide that essential hearty, chewy texture that quick oats simply cannot replicate. They absorb moisture slowly, contributing to the cookie’s structure and satisfying bite.
- Baking Powder: Our chosen leavening agent. A teaspoon of baking powder gives these cookies a delicate lift, ensuring they don’t become too dense and maintain their light, airy qualities while still achieving those desirable crispy edges.
- Dried Cranberries: These jewel-toned berries introduce a lovely tart sweetness that cuts through the richness of the butter and sugar. They also provide a fantastic chewy element that makes each bite more interesting. Look for high-quality, plump dried cranberries.
- Candied Pecans: This is truly the star ingredient and what makes these cookies unique! I’ve had great success with glazed pecans, but feel free to use your favorite brand or even homemade candied pecans. The sugary coating caramelizes beautifully, adding incredible depth and an extra layer of crunch. Remember to roughly chop them before adding them to the dough to ensure even distribution and bite-sized pieces.
Recommended Equipment for Baking Perfection
You won’t need an arsenal of specialized gadgets for these delightful cookies! The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity, requiring just a few standard kitchen tools to achieve professional-level results.
- Baking Sheets: A good quality, heavy-duty ¾ sheet baking pan is highly recommended. Heavy-gauge pans ensure even heat distribution, preventing burnt bottoms and undercooked centers.
- Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper: To ensure your cookies don’t stick and bake evenly, a silicone baking mat or parchment paper is essential. They also make for easy cleanup!
- Mixer: While you can certainly mix by hand for a good arm workout, a hand mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment will make creaming the butter and sugar much quicker and more efficient, ensuring that light and fluffy texture we’re aiming for.
- Mixing Bowls: You’ll need at least two: a large one for the wet and then combined ingredients, and a medium one for whisking dry ingredients.
- Measuring Cups and Spoons: Accurate measurements are crucial in baking! Ensure you have a reliable set.
- Kitchen Scale: As mentioned in the ingredients section, a kitchen scale is highly recommended for precise flour measurement.
- Rubber Spatula: Ideal for scraping down the sides of your bowl and gently folding in the dry ingredients, cranberries, and pecans without overmixing.
- Cookie Scoop: For perfectly uniform cookies that bake evenly, a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop is invaluable.
- Cooling Rack: A cooling rack is essential for allowing your cookies to cool properly, preventing them from becoming soggy on the bottom and helping to achieve those crispy edges.
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies: Your Easy Step-by-Step Guide
These oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies are delightfully straightforward to make, perfect for bakers of all skill levels. What’s even better is that because they’re designed to be thin, chewy, and crispy, there’s no need to chill the dough, which means you can enjoy freshly baked cookies even faster!
- Prepare Your Baking Environment: Start by preheating your oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. This step ensures easy release and consistent baking.
- Cream Butter and Sugars: In a large mixing bowl, combine your room temperature butter and light brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat them together on medium speed until the mixture is light, fluffy, and noticeably paler in color. This creaming process incorporates air, which is crucial for the cookies’ texture.
- Incorporate Wet Ingredients: Whisk in the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing just until each is evenly combined before adding the next. Then, stir in the pure vanilla extract. Be careful not to overmix at this stage; just combine.
- Fold in Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, baking powder, and ground cinnamon. Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients, folding gently with a rubber spatula until just combined. Overmixing will develop the gluten in the flour, resulting in tough cookies, so mix only until no streaks of flour remain.
- Add the Mix-ins: Now for the stars of the show! Gently fold in the dried cranberries and the roughly chopped candied pecans. Ensure they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop and Space: Using a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, drop balls of dough onto your prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Remember, these cookies will spread as they bake, so ample space is key to prevent them from merging.
- Bake to Perfection: Place the baking sheets in your preheated oven and bake for approximately 12-14 minutes. Keep an eye on them: the cookies are ready when their centers are set, and the outer edges have turned a beautiful, deep golden brown. The centers might still look slightly soft, but they will firm up as they cool.
- Cooling: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. This initial cooling on the hot sheet helps them set and develop their crisp edges, while the wire rack prevents them from becoming soggy.
Baking Tips and Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
To ensure your oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies turn out perfectly every time, consider these helpful tips and answers to common questions:
Absolutely! Fresh cranberries will add a brighter, more intense tartness. If you opt for fresh, I recommend roughly chopping them into smaller pieces to ensure they’re distributed evenly and don’t make the cookies too wet in spots. You should also increase the light brown sugar slightly, perhaps to 1-¾ cups, to balance out the heightened tartness of fresh cranberries. Additionally, fresh fruit introduces more moisture, so you might need to add an extra couple of tablespoons of all-purpose flour to your dough to maintain the right consistency and prevent excessive spreading.
While you technically can, I strongly advise against using quick oats for this particular recipe. We’re aiming for that classic, robust, and chewy oatmeal cookie texture, which is best achieved with old-fashioned rolled oats. Quick oats are pre-steamed and cut into smaller pieces, leading to a much softer, almost mushy, texture in the final product. They won’t provide the same hearty bite and structure that makes these cookies so irresistible.
While oats themselves offer several nutritional benefits, such as slow-burning energy, support for heart health, and assistance in regulating blood sugar, traditional oatmeal cookies like these are still a treat. They contain significant amounts of sugar and butter. As I’m no nutritional expert, my general advice is to consider any type of cookie, including these, a delicious indulgence best enjoyed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.
If you’re a fan of delightful thumbprint cookies, I highly recommend my Lemon Curd Cookies or my indulgent Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies with Cinnamon Sugar. If you enjoy the ease and flavor of cake mix cookies, you’ll adore my Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies or my refreshing Lemon Blueberry Cookies. For the classic chocolate chip cookie lovers, definitely check out these unique Coconut Macadamia Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chunks or my interesting take on Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Brown Sugar! And for even more baking inspiration, explore my comprehensive list of cookies perfect for cookie swaps or delve into my gluten-free, dairy-free cookie collection. Don’t forget to try my Cake Mix Apple Cobbler for another incredibly easy and delicious dessert!
Several factors can cause cookies to spread. Ensure your butter is at room temperature but not melted, and your oven temperature is accurate (an oven thermometer can help!). Using proper measurements, especially for flour, is key – avoid scooping flour directly from the bag. Also, make sure your baking sheets aren’t too hot between batches, and consider chilling the dough for 15-30 minutes if you find them spreading excessively, though it’s not strictly necessary for this particular recipe.
Once completely cooled, store your oatmeal cranberry pecan cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will remain wonderfully fresh and delicious for up to 3 days. For longer storage, these cookies freeze exceptionally well. You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months, or even freeze the raw dough balls to bake fresh cookies on demand!
If you try this recipe, I would absolutely love it if you could leave a star review rating and comment below! Your feedback is incredibly valuable and wonderful to hear! And don’t forget to share your delicious creations with me by tagging @chenee_today on Instagram!
📖 Recipe
Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Cookies
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Equipment you may need
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¾ sheet baking pan
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silicone baking mat
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hand mixer
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measuring cups and spoons
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food scale
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cooling rack
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parchment paper
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stand mixer
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rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) salted butter – room temperature
- 1½ cup (330 g) light brown sugar – packed
- 2 large eggs – room temperature
- 1 ¼ teaspoon (6 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cup (167 g) all-purpose flour – (171g)
- ½ teaspoon (1 g) ground cinnamon
- 1 ¾ cup (142 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
- ¾ cup (91 g) dried cranberries
- ¾ cup (84 g) candied pecans – roughly chopped
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
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In a large mixing bowl, combine the room temperature butter and light brown sugar. Beat with a hand mixer or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy, usually 2-3 minutes.1 cup salted butter, 1½ cup light brown sugar
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Whisk in the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined. Then, mix in the pure vanilla extract.2 large eggs, 1 ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, baking powder, and ground cinnamon. Gradually add this dry mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring gently with a spatula until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix.1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, 1 ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
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Gently fold in the dried cranberries and the roughly chopped candied pecans until evenly distributed.¾ cup dried cranberries, ¾ cup candied pecans
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Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheets, ensuring they are about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading during baking.
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Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes, or until the cookies are set and their outer edges are a deep golden brown. The centers may still appear slightly soft. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer them to wire racks to cool completely, which helps them firm up and achieve those crispy edges.
Notes
Storage: Once completely cooled, these cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. They are so delicious, they rarely last that long! For longer storage, they also freeze exceptionally well. You can freeze baked cookies for up to 3 months, or scoop and freeze raw dough balls to bake fresh whenever a craving strikes. Simply bake from frozen, adding a couple of extra minutes to the baking time.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
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