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
I made these cookies substituting almond flour and regular flour using the ratio stated on the bag. I also substituted erythritol and Splenda for the sugar. The cookies turned out dense and cakey; when cooled they are floppy. Any suggestions on substituting low carb flour and sugar substitutes in this recipe?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Cassandra! That sounds disappointing and not like how these cookies should turn out at all, so I’d love to help you figure out what happened and how to fix it! 🙂 This recipe doesn’t call for sugar; did you mean that you substituted erythritol and Splenda in place of the Stevia In The Raw Bakers Bag (it’s a no-calorie sweetener!)? How much of each did you use? How did you measure them? Also, how much almond flour and all-purpose flour (I’m assuming that’s what you mean by regular flour!) did you use, and how did you measure them? How did you measure the oats? How long did you chill the cookie dough, and how long did you bake the cookies?
I know I just asked a lot of questions, but once I know the answers to all of them, I’ll have a much better idea of what happened and what you can do differently next time! 🙂
Not a huge fan of this recipe. I don’t like the taste the stevia gives the cookie and mine came out so liquidy I had to add a bit more gf flour to even scoop the dough. If I want to try to re work the recipe it might be good. But over all. Not a fan. Sorry.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! That sounds frustrating and not like how these cookies are supposed to turn out at all, so I’d love to help figure out what happened and how to fix it. 🙂 That’s really strange that your cookie dough was so liquidy! Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? What’s the exact gluten-free flour that you used? How long did you chill the cookie dough? Did you use Stevia In The Raw Baker’s Bag?
If I did want to substitute regular sugar for the Stevia how much would I need to use? Stevia doesn’t sit well with me!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Matty! If you’d like to use granulated sugar, then you’ll need ½ cup (96g), and you’ll need to reduce the orange juice to ¼ cup to compensate. (Regular sugar and Stevia In The Raw dissolve differently in liquid!) I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you try making them!
Can I use maple syrup instead of the stevia??
I’m honored that you’d like to try making this recipe, Kathryn! If you’d like to use maple syrup in place of the stevia, you’ll need ½ cup, and you’ll need to omit the orange juice to compensate for the added liquid. Just keep in mind that your cookies won’t have quite as strong of an orange flavor as a result! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think of these oatmeal cookies if you try making them!
I was disappointed in these. They taste fine but seem underdone. I like a soft cookie but these are really soft. I don’t know- seems I didn’t bake long enough, but took the longer of the range, 11 minutes. I was so worried about overdone, that I took out at 11. Perhaps a bit more guidance as to how they should look, top and bottom, would be helpful.
I’m honored that you tried making my recipe, Gayle! I’d love to help figure out why that was and how to adapt this recipe to better suit your tastes. 🙂 In order to do so, I have some questions for you!
Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes seciton?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons, especially for the flour, oats, and orange juice?
How thick were your cookies after flattening the dough in Step 3?
How long did you leave your cookies on the warm baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack?
Were your cookies really fragile, flimsy, or falling apart? Or did they hold their shape and have more of a chewy texture?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit (and how to fix it!) once I know your answers to all of them!
I don’t see a way to answer your questions other than here. I don’t see my post regarding my problem with the cookie. I did use sugar but followed your suggestions and reduced the OJ amount. I didn’t really flatten the cookies too much but used a damp knife to smooth them out and more or less flatten them. I had way more than 15 cookies, though. And I did leave them on the cookie sheet for the 10 minute per your instructions. Measured flour using a fork, measured liquids, didn’t weigh them.
I’m sorry for the confusion, Gayle! Answering my questions in another comment was exactly what I was asking you to do, so thank you for sharing this information. It’s very helpful! 🙂 (And you can view your original comment above my comment response!)
What type of sugar did you use (granulated or brown?), and how much OJ did you use?
How many cookies did you get, if you made a single batch yet got way more than 15? (The size of your cookies can potentially contribute to the issues you described as well!)
How thick were your cookies after flattening in Step 3? (This is actually really important! Thicker cookies take longer to bake, so if your cookies were thicker than mine, then that could contribute to why they were so soft. Hence why I’m asking about their thickness!)
Were your cookies really fragile, flimsy, or falling apart? Or did they hold their shape and have more of a chewy texture? (Just like the question above, this is important as well! Your answer to this question will help us determine whether your cookies weren’t baked long enough or whether there was something amiss with the cookie dough.)
I have a better idea of what happened with your batch, and your answers to the above questions will help me confirm whether my hunch is correct. 🙂
I just made these using monk fruit. I was not picky about the measurements. They turned out amazing. I also used a duck egg because that’s all I bake with and it’s a huge improvement in every recipe! I had leftover dough/batter so I made two pancakes out of it that were delicious! This just might be my new Christmas morning pancake/waffle recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Cyndi! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. It really means a lot, especially that you might make these as your Christmas morning breakfast! That’s such a huge compliment! 🙂 I appreciate you sharing your recipe modifications too. I always love hearing what tweaks work!
Sorry I did not get back to you sooner. Used granulated sugar, a half cup OJ , I only made one batch, didn’t double, but still got more than 15 so my cookies were not very big, no more than 2 inches across, they were not fragile, did not fall apart, held shape well. I wish I had baked another 2 minutes.
Gayle
No need to apologize, Gayle! We found the culprit — the orange juice! If you used ½ cup of granulated sugar and ½ cup of orange juice (aka the full amount), that would’ve added too much liquid volume to the cookie dough. (Sugar counts towards the liquid volume in this recipe!) Granulated sugar behaves very differently than the Stevia In The Raw Bakers Bag sweetener. The latter dissolves down into almost nothing, whereas the former actually creates more liquid volume, and too much liquid volume will prevent these cookies from fully baking all the way through. It can also yield a more cakey or bready texture, if you bake the cookies too much longer.
So if you’d like to use granulated sugar, then you’ll need to use half the amount of orange juice (¼ cup instead). That will yield cookies with the same taste and texture that finish baking properly in the amount of time given in Step 3! 🙂
Can I use dried cranberries ( fresh arent always available) and if so, would the measurements ne different?
Yes! I’d recommend ¼ cup of dried cranberries instead, and I’d also recommend hydrating them first. Although not completely necessary, it’ll make them softer, more plump, and somewhat juicy! To do so, add the dried cranberries to a microwave-safe bowl, cover them with water, and cover the top of the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Let the dried cranberries sit for 10-15 minutes (or while you measure and mix together the rest of the ingredients). Thoroughly drain the excess liquid before folding them into the cookie dough.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these oatmeal cookies, Kelley!