Vegan Almond Molasses Cranberry Cookies

by Lindsay Cotter · 11/23/2015

Made with gluten free oat flour, creamy nut butter, festive cranberries, these Vegan Almond Molasses Cranberry Cookies are a better-for-you cranberry cookie recipe perfect for every occasion. Bake them ahead of time for holiday parties, quick breakfasts, or even on-the-go snacks!

4 vegan cranberry almond molasses cookies stacked on top of each other

Crazy for Cranberries

This time of year cranberries seem to be everywhere and in everything! With recipes like Cranberry Balsamic Roasted Chicken, Slow Cooker Gluten Free Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce, Easy Cranberry Basil Shrimp Cocktail, and more, I’m not sure there are many foods that cranberries don’t pair well with. However, my favorite way to use this festive fruit is in cranberry cookies, especially when paired with warm spices molasses! Seriously, y’all, recipes don’t get much better than this.

Not only are these cranberry cookies soft, sweet, and delicious, but they’re also made with whole food ingredients for a dairy-free, grain-free cookie everyone can enjoy! Plus, they’re so healthy you can even eat them for breakfast. In fact, they make the perfect option for a post-workout snack to help you refuel with natural sugars and carb sources to keep you satisfied. Whether you’re making them to leave out for Santa, serve at holiday parties, or to have a quick grab-n-go option throughout the week, I guarantee you’re going to love this cranberry cookie recipe! So, if you’re ready to get baking, keep reading to find everything you’ll need to know from ingredient lists, to instructions, health benefits, and more!

Ingredients for Cranberry Cookies

This cranberry molasses cookie recipe is super simple to make and is very similar to traditional gluten free sugar cookies, with a cranberry twist! Take a look below to find everything you’ll need.

two hands holidng a baking sheet full of baked vegean cranberry almond molasses cookies

Gluten Free Oat Flour – Oat flour is a great gluten free option that provides whole grains and fiber!
Arrowroot Starch – Arrowroot starch works to add structure and texture to these cookies. However, if you don’t have arrowroot starch on hand, tapioca starch works just as well!
Spices – I added cinnamon and ginger to create a rich, warm flavor that pairs nicely with the sweetness of the sugar and cranberries.
Nut Butter – Any creamy nut butter such as almond or cashew butter can be used. Or, swap them out for sunflower seed butter, if you prefer!
Dried Cranberries – If you want extra chunks in your cookies, feel free to add more dried cranberries! Just make sure they are dried and not fresh, because fresh cranberries throw off the ratio of wet and dry ingredients.
Molasses – The secret ingredient that makes these cranberry cookies stand out from the rest, molasses adds sweet flavor and health benefits, but we’ll get to those later!

Baking Staples – As with most baked goods, you’ll also need a few staple ingredients such as baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and non-dairy milk.

Sugar – For these cranberry cookies, you’ll need 3 different sugars including raw cane sugar, brown sugar, and cane sugar. Did you know that sugar does more than just sweeten the dough? It’s true! For instance, in this case, the brown sugar helps create slightly chewier cookies. Meanwhile, the raw sugar helps the cookies spread.

Foodie Swap: To lower the sugar content, try replacing the brown sugar with a substitute like Swerve.

How to Make this Cranberry Molasses Cookie Recipe

These cranberry cookies might look fancy, but they’re super easy to make! Take a look below to see how they’re done.

Preheat. To begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk. Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger, and set it aside.
Mix. In a second, larger mixing bowl, beat together the nut butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Then, add the molasses and vanilla, and combine the ingredients until the dough is nice and thick. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Pro-Tip: Add the dry ingredients in 3 separate batches, mixing to combine the ingredients after each batch.

Fold. Add in 4 tablespoons of milk, scrape down the batter from the sides of the bowl, and fold in the dried cranberries.

Roll and Scoop. Add another 4 tablespoons of milk, mixing well, and roll the dough into a ball. Then, using a medium-sized cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough, and roll them into smaller balls. Roll each ball of cookie dough in sugar, and place them on the prepared baking sheet, pressing down slightly.

Note: If the batter is too thick, add in an extra tablespoon of non-dairy milk. Or, if the batter is too thin to roll into a ball, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Bake. Place the cranberry cookies in the oven for 12-14 minutes. For chewier cookies, bake them for 11-12 minutes. Or, for crispy cookies, bake them closer to 14 minutes!

Benefits of Molasses

As if you needed another reason to enjoy cookies, it turns out molasses is actually good for you! Keep reading to learn more.

vegan cranberry almond molasses cookies (GF)

5 tablespoons of molasses (preferably blackstrap) contains 95 percent of your daily allowance of iron. This is great for those with anemia or vegans and vegetarians who may not get enough iron in their diet already, because too little or too much iron can make you feel tired or weak.
Molasses is packed with minerals such as Magnesium and Potassium. These minerals are needed for bone health and metabolism. Not to mention, magnesium and potassium are great electrolyte sources, which means molasses really can help refuel muscles after a workout!
Molasses is a natural sugar that is digested more slowly than others. This slow digestion can help stabilize blood sugar. So, you see, snacking on these cranberry cookies between meals can keep insulin in check! Sounds like a plan to me!

Should I Soak Dried Cranberries Before Baking?

It’s not necessary to soak dried cranberries before baking! We already tested, tasted, and re-tested this cranberry cookie recipe to make sure that all the portions and flavors are in check. So, all you have to do is follow the instructions in the recipe card!