I’m partnering with Stevia In The Raw® to bring you today’s recipe! Their stevia products are really easy to use and perfect for baking!
Every year, my family makes my great-grandma’s cranberry salad the night before Thanksgiving to give it enough time to set and let the flavors meld. As part of the tradition, everybody has to participate in part of the process.
As we sat in Grandma’s living room, each person called out what they wanted to do. Grandma offered to dice pecans, Mom claimed chopping cranberries, my brother volunteered to zest oranges, and Dad decided to work on the gelatin part.
At that point, I looked around at everyone else. “What should I do?” I asked.
“You can be the captain and oversee everyone else!” Grandma proclaimed.
I guess I have a reputation for being in the kitchen and helping others follow recipes… ?
Over the next hour, Mom called me over to check the size of her chopped cranberries, I showed my brother the best way to zest citrus fruit (systematic strips, not random blotches!), and tossed Dad the gelatin packets when he lost track of them.
The next day, after it spent 19 hours in the refrigerator, Grandma pulled out the cranberry salad. She ran a knife around the outside of the mold, inverted the mold onto a serving platter, and gave it a good hard shake. Then…
By some miracle, the entire cranberry salad slid right out in one beautifully shaped circular piece! Normally it falls apart in big chunks and we have to dig it out of the mold, but not this year. It stood upright in all of its impressive glory for our Thanksgiving feast!
Later, when Dad mentioned we ended up with lots of leftover cranberries and oranges, I immediately bagged them up and brought them home because…
I had already planned on baking these Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies! They’re soft and chewy with lots of festive holiday flavors from the sweet oranges and bright pops of fresh cranberries. Yet they’re much healthier than my family’s traditional cranberry salad because they contain no refined flour or sugar, and they’re just 65 calories!
So… I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you reached for a second cookie like me!
Let’s go over how to make these healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies!
You’ll start with a combination of instant oats and whole wheat flour. When I make oatmeal cookies, I always want them to taste like oatmeal cookies, not “cookies that happens to have a few oats in them,” so I add more oats than flour.
It’s really important to use instant oats, not traditional old-fashioned rolled oats (and definitely not steel cut oats!). This is because instant oats are smaller and thinner than old-fashioned oats, so they soften faster and give your healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies the perfect chewy texture.
Tip: Instant oats are also called “quick cooking” or “one minute” oats. They usually come in large canisters right next to the old-fashioned oats at the grocery store!
Just remember, in order for your cookies to turn out perfectly soft and chewy (not cakey or dry!), it’s extremely important that you measure the oats and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. Too much of either ingredient will dry our your cookie dough and make your cookies taste cakey or bready. This is especially true of the oats because they act like little sponges and soak up lots of moisture from your cookie dough. I promise these healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies are worth the extra 10 seconds of properly measuring!
Once you’ve measured your oats and flour, you’ll whisk in lots of orange zest and a bit of cinnamon. I love all of my oatmeal cookies to have a comforting taste, and that pinch of cinnamon does just that! As for the orange zest, it actually provides the majority of the citrus flavor because that orange taste is much more concentrated in the peel than in the juice. So don’t skip it!
But yes, you’ll still add some freshly squeezed orange juice to your cookie dough! It provides both flavor and natural sweetness. Then the rest of the sweetness in these healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies comes from…
Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag! Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag is a zero-calorie sweetener that contains an extract from the stevia plant, and Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag sweetens cup-for-cup like regular sugar. It’s so easy and handy to use in baking recipes to reduce calories (you save up to 700 calories for every cup of sugar you replace!) without sacrificing flavor.
Time for the second fruit component: the fresh cranberries! To quickly and easily dice them into little pieces, I actually pulse them in my food processor a few times. This trick doesn’t work for all fruit, but the cranberries are hardy enough to survive the sharp food processor blades without turning into a purée!
Before baking, you must chill your cookie dough! It’ll be a little soft and sticky when you first mix it up from the orange juice, but chilling stiffens the dough. Just 20 minutes is all it needs!
And then you’ll be ready to drop it onto your baking sheets! These healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies don’t actually spread while baking, so you must flatten the cookie dough before placing it in the oven. I use a mini spatula to do this!
But just a few minutes later…
It’s time to enjoy your freshly baked soft and chewy oatmeal cookies! And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your healthy cranberry orange oatmeal cookies!
| Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies | | Print |
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (gluten-free if necessary and measured like this)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (8g) orange zest (about 1 extra large)
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (12g) Stevia In The Raw® Bakers Bag
- ½ cup (120mL) freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 extra large)
- ¾ cup (75g) fresh whole cranberries, diced
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk in the orange zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the Stevia In The Raw® and orange juice. Add in the oat mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the cranberries. Chill the cookie dough for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Using a spoon and spatula, drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet. Flatten to the desired thickness and width using a spatula. Bake at 325°F for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
For the gluten-free flour, I recommend the following: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will also work, if measured like this.
Instant oats are also known as quick-cooking or minute oats. They come in large canisters, just like old-fashioned oats. They are not the ones in the small flavored packets of oatmeal. To make your own, add the same amount of old-fashioned rolled oats to a food processor, and pulse 10-12 times or until the oats are about ¼ to ⅛ of their original size.
Don’t skip the orange zest! It actually provides the majority of the orange flavor.
For a shortcut, I pulse my cranberries a few times in a food processor to chop them. For best results, they should be no larger than ¼ of their original size.
Do not overbake these cookies! They’ll turn out cakey or dry if you do. They should still feel a little soft and underdone in the centers when you remove them from the oven. They’ll continue to cook all the way through while you let them cool on the warm baking sheet.
For answers to all other questions regarding substitutions and tips, see my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ Page.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, lower sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
This post was sponsored by Stevia In The Raw®. As always, all text, opinions, photographs, and recipe are my own.
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Cranberry Orange Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Cranberry Orange Cupcakes
♡ Healthy Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins
♡ Healthy Cranberry Orange Scones
♡ Healthy Dark Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Perfect use of the leftover cranberries! Yum.
Thank you so much Liz! 🙂
Hi!
Stevia is not available near me. Could you pls tell me the measure of sugar.
Thanks
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Payal! If you’d like to use brown or granulated sugar, then use ½ cup and reduce the orange juice to 5 tablespoons. (Sugar and Stevia In The Raw dissolve differently!) 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies!
Do you ever use coconut flour in any of your recipes. I know it’s very absorbent and wondering how much I should use
I really appreciate your interest in my recipes Debbie! I’ve used coconut flour in a few recipes, and you can find those by typing “coconut flour” in the search bar on my website. (Located at the top of my blog, if you’re on a regular computer, or the bottom of my blog, if you’re on a mobile device!) I typically don’t recommend it in these cookies because it’s so absorbent, like you mentioned. If you’d like to reduce the carbs, then almond flour would be much better here! It’s a 1-for-1 substitute for the whole wheat flour in this recipe. 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you try them!
OMG! these sound amazing, will have to try, love those flavours. Thanks for sharing x
You’re so sweet Karen! Thank you! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you try them!
we made these today with my 2 1/2 year old daughter and she had so much fun
delicious
thanks for another great recipe
I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed these cookies Linda! I’m truly honored that you’d make them the same day I shared the new recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know!! 🙂
If I want to make 30 cookies, rather than 15, do I double ALL of the ingredients?
Yes! I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies Christina!
They are yummy. Made them for a cookie exchange. Only thing I would do differently: I used low-sugar dried cranberries instead of fresh cranberries and sugar instead of Stevia. I cut back the sugar by 1/4, but they were still a tad too sweet. Next time I’ll either use Stevia and fresh cranberries or, if I use low-sugar dried cranberries, I’ll cut the sweetener back by 1/2. Good recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Christina! I’m truly honored that you baked them for your cookie exchange. 🙂 Happy holidays!!
Can applesauce or date paste be substituted for stevia ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Sydney! I don’t recommend using either of those for the stevia. They aren’t nearly as sweet and will make your cookies cakey instead of chewy. Coconut sugar or brown sugar would be the best two options! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies!
Made these today, as written. They are delicious! Great texture and taste. They’re colourful and pretty, as well.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies Cher! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂