These healthy cranberry oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy. They are just 3 ingredients and don’t contain any flour, refined sugar, eggs or butter. They are easy to make and store well. They can be eaten for breakfast, snack or dessert.
a stack of five cookies.

I am back to baking some oatmeal treats for my family to snack on. We took a little break during the holidays but I’m actually happy to be eating these again. They are so easy to make and customize.

Ingredients

  • Quick Oats
  • Applesauce
  • Dried Cranberries

Quick Oats: These cookies are made with quick oats which are regular oats that have been further processed so that they are thinner and smaller and cook faster. Please note that quick oats are not the same as instant oats which have sugar and other ingredients added. Quick oats are just smaller sized regular oats. If you don’t have quick oats you can also run regular oats in a food processor a few times until they become the size of quick oats.

Applesauce: I used unsweetened applesauce but you can use sweetened if you want the cookies to be a little sweeter. Unsweetened applesauce is still sweet and is used to provide natural sweetness for the cookies. Applesauce can also be substituted with finely mashed bananas. Using bananas will also make the cookies taste sweeter. I decided to use applesauce because I like how cranberries and apples pair together.

Dried cranberries: You can use unsweetened, lightly sweetened, naturally sweetened or just regularly sweetened dried cranberries. I used dried cranberries lightly sweetened with unsweetened apple juice. I found that the combination of the lightly sweetened dried cranberries with the unsweetened applesauce was just enough sweetness for the cookies. If you use unsweetened cranberries, you may want to add a little maple syrup or honey to the cookies since unsweetened dried cranberries are quite tart.

How to Make Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

The quick oats and applesauce are mixed together until the oats are fully incorporated into the applesauce. The dried cranberries are then mixed in. The dough is then scooped out with a cookie scoop. The cookies are placed onto your prepared baking sheet and flattened and shaped into round disks. The cookies are then baked.
cranberry oatmeal cookies.

Taste, Texture and Variations

These cookies are very lightly sweetened. They have a soft and chewy texture. There are various ways to customize these cookies to suit your personal preferences:

  • To add some healthy fat to the cookies (which will make them chewier and richer tasting), you can substitute 3 tbsp of applesauce for 3 tbsp of natural peanut or almond butter.
  • To add more sweetness to the cookies, you can add 1-2 tbsp of maple syrup or honey to the cookie batter.
  • If you like white chocolate chips in your cranberry oatmeal cookies, you can add them into the dough.

a stack of cranberry oatmeal cookies.

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4.88 from 8 votes

3 Ingredient Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

These soft and chewy cranberry oatmeal cookies are just 3 ingredients and healthier than traditional cranberry oatmeal cookies. They don't contain any flour, refined sugar, eggs or butter.
Servings: 12 cookies
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup (90 g) quick oats
  • 3/4 cup (187 g) unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup (30 g) dried cranberries, roughly chopped

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  • Add oats and applesauce to a large mixing bowl. Stir until the oats are evenly mixed and fully coated in applesauce. The mixture will be thick and wet.
  • Stir in dried cranberries until evenly mixed throughout the cookie dough.
  • Use a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop to scoop out cookie dough. Release cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing the dough balls about 1.5 inches apart. Use the back of a metal spoon to press down on each cookie dough ball so that it forms a thick round disk. Smooth the sides of the cookie disks if desired. The cookies will not spread during baking so you want to shape the cookies to how you want the final outcome to be.
  • Bake cookies for about 13-14 minutes or until the cookies are done (the surface should no longer be wet). Let the cookies cool on their baking sheet before removing them. Store uneaten cookies in the fridge or freezer.

Notes

  • Roughly chop the dried cranberries so that they are smaller and will be more evenly distributed in the cookies.
  • The cookies are only lightly sweetened. If you prefer sweeter, you can use mashed bananas instead of applesauce or you can add 1-2 tbsp of honey or maple syrup to the cookie dough.
  • I used dried cranberries lightly sweetened with applesauce. I found that the lightly sweetened cranberries along with the applesauce was just enough sweetness for the cookies. If you are using unsweetened cranberries, you likely will want to add honey or maple syrup to the cookie dough so that the cookies are sweet enough.
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 43kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Fat: 0.4g, Saturated Fat: 0.1g, Sodium: 3mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g, NET CARBS: 8
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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