These Vegan Cranberry Cookies are made with gluten-free oat flour, creamy nut butter, and plenty of festive cranberries. A better-for-you cranberry cookie perfect for every occasion. Whip up a batch for holiday parties, tasty gifts, on-the-go snacks, or even quick breakfasts!
Crazy for Cranberries
With recipes like Cranberry Roasted Chicken, Meatballs with Cranberry Sauce, Easy Cranberry Shrimp Cocktail, 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 this cranberry cookies. Whether you’re making them to leave out for Santa, serve at holiday parties, or have a quick grab-n-go option throughout the week, I guarantee you’re going to love these cookies!
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 nutritious 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.
Ingredients You’ll Need
These cranberry vegan molasses cookies are 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.
- Gluten-Free Oat Flour – Used to form the base of the dough, oat flour is a great gluten-free option that provides whole grains and fiber.
Pro-Tip: For a budget-friendly option, you can easily turn gluten-free oats into oat flour! We teach you how here.
- Arrowroot Starch – Arrowroot starch works to add structure and texture to these cranberry cookies eliminating the need for eggs. However, if you don’t have arrowroot starch on hand, cornstarch or tapioca starch works as well!
Tip – The starch you choose can affect texture—so the final call is yours depending on how you like your cookies: Arrowroot creates a soft, lightly tender cookie that holds its shape well. Cornstarch creates a slightly thicker cookie with a more stable structure and less spread. Tapioca creates a chewier, more elastic texture but may cause more spread if the dough is too soft or under-measured.
- Spices – We included cinnamon and ginger to create a rich, warm flavor that pairs nicely with the sweetness of the sugar and cranberries.
- Nut or Seed Butter – Any creamy nut butter such as almond or cashew butter can be used. Or, swap it out for sunflower seed butter, if you prefer!
- Dried Cranberries – A great source of vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber, dried cranberries provide a pop of color and a sweet and slightly tangy taste. 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 sparkling cane sugar. However, they’re used for more than just sweetening the dough. For instance, the brown sugar helps create slightly chewier cookies while the raw sugar helps the cookies spread. When combined, they create one truly irresistible treat.
Foodie Swap: To reduce the sugar content, try replacing the brown sugar with a sugar substitute like Swerve Monk Fruit Brown Sugar blend.
Baking Tips and Tricks
Don’t Overmix. Be careful to mix, whisk, and stir the ingredients until they are just combined and smooth. Continuing to mix will result in dense, tough cookies.
Adjust the Baking Time. For a softer, chewy cookie, bake for 11-12 minutes. Or, if you prefer crispy cookies, leave them in the oven for closer to 14 minutes. Just make sure they’re still soft when you pull them out!
Decorate. Thanks to the use of vibrantly colored cranberries, these cookies are plenty festive as they are. However, if you want to spruce them up even more, try pressing additional cranberries or dairy free white chocolate chips into the cookies right after pulling them from the oven. Or, add a drizzle of melted chocolate or a sweet powdered sugar glaze on top!
How to Make Cranberry Cookies
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, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Beat. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the nut butter, raw sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until well combined. Add the molasses and vanilla to the mixture, and continue to beat until smooth.
- Mix. Working in batches, gently add ⅓ of the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, stirring in between each batch. Add the milk, and mix, scraping down the edges of the bowl. Once the ingredients are well combined, gently fold in the cranberries.
- Form the Cookies. Add additional milk, and gently mix until the batter is firm enough to roll into a large ball. Then, use a medium-sized cookie scoop to portion out the dough, and roll it into balls.
- Bake. Roll each ball of dough in the sparkling sugar, and place it on the baking sheet, pressing down slightly. Bake until the cranberry cookies are golden brown.
- Cool. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and let the cookies cool for 10-15 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
Storage Tips: Portion raw cookie dough into balls (without sugar coating) and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer for 20 minutes or until firm. Transfer frozen dough balls to an airtight container or ziplock bag and return to the freezer.
Health Benefits of Molasses
As if the nutritional benefits of cranberries weren’t compelling enough, it turns out molasses packs plenty of health benefits, too! For instance, not only is it a great source of Magnesium and Potassium, but 5 tablespoons of molasses (preferably blackstrap contains 95% of your daily allowance of iron.
In addition, due to the fact that it is a natural sugar, it is digested more slowly than other sweeteners and can help stabilize blood sugar, keeping insulin levels in check.
More of Our Favorite
Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions
We don’t recommend it. Fresh cranberries will have a different liquid component which is likely to through off the balance of wet and dry ingredients in the dough.
Leftover cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Yes! Store baked cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Or, freeze cookie dough balls for up to 3 months.
It’s not necessary to soak dried cranberries before baking! We already tested, tasted, and re-tested this cranberry cookies 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 below!
Vegan Cranberry Cookies Recipe (Gluten Free)
- Total Time: 22-24 minutes
- Yield: 22–24 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Made with gluten free oat flour, creamy nut butter, and plenty of festive cranberries, this Vegan Cranberry Cookies Recipe is a better-for-you cranberry cookie perfect for every occasion. Whip up a batch for holiday parties, tasty gifts, on-the-go snacks, or even quick breakfasts!
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup to 2 cups (195 grams) gluten free oat flour
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch (about 35 grams; see notes)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of ground ginger
- ½ cup creamy nut butter or sunflower seed butter (thick and well-stirred, not oily)
- ½ cup fine sugar or sugar substitute
- 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar or brown sugar substitute
- 4 Tablespoons molasses
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 Tablespoons non-dairy milk, divided
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup sparkling sugar or sugar, for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the oat flour, arrowroot starch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the nut butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
- Pour in the molasses and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Gradually, in batches, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The batter will be very thick.
- Mix in 4 Tablespoons of milk and scrape the batter down from the sides of the bowl. Fold in the dried cranberries.
- Add an additional 3-4 Tablespoons of milk, and gently mix until the batter is firm enough to roll into a large ball. If the batter is too thick, add an additional Tablespoon of milk. If the batter is too thin, place it in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes.
- Place the ¼ cup sparkling sugar in a shallow bowl or on a plate.
- Roll cookie dough, 1 Tablespoon each, into balls. Roll each ball in the sparkling sugar and place on a cookie sheet, pressing down slightly.
- Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes. For chewier/softer cookies, bake for 11-12 minutes. For crispy cookies, bake longer or about 14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Notes
Troubleshooting Note – If your cookies spread too much, the dough is likely too soft. Mix in 1–2 Tablespoons oat flour or chill the dough for 20–30 minutes before baking. Oat flour and nut butter brands vary—start with less liquid and add only as needed.
Texture Tips – I love using tapioca flour as a substitute for arrowroot, but it’s more sensitive to flour measurements and can cause extra spreading if the dough is too soft. We retested this recipe using cornstarch as a backup option with great results—choose arrowroot or cornstarch for more structure, or tapioca if you prefer a chewier cookie.
Storage Tips: Portion raw cookie dough into balls (without sugar coating) and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet. Place in freezer for 20 minutes or until firm. Transfer frozen dough balls to an airtight container or ziplock bag and return to the freezer.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 12-14 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 111
- Sugar: 10.1 g
- Sodium: 169.3 mg
- Fat: 3.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 17.9 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Even though these cookies spread like little saucers they pack some good flavor. I chilled the dough for 30 minutes. Did my best to roll balls but they turned out to be more of a plopped mount. They went back in the frig for 1 hour before baking. Halfway baking I turned the sheet pan, the cookies spread a little. Once done baking wow, thin and BIG. Maybe next time, and there will be a next time, they are so good, I might not add the last 4 tablespoon of almond milk. Baked 14 minutes and firmed up some. I bet they would make a delicious ice cream sandwich cookie. Thanks.
So sorry they spread that much for you, Theresa. Did you happen to weigh the flour? Sometimes, not enough flour, or not properly measured, can be the culprit. I’ll be sure to retest them so we can fix that problem. But I’m so glad you liked the flavor! I sometimes just eat the dough. Haha
I did eat some of the cookie dough and yum yum so good. Next time will weigh the flour. Thanks.
Hey Theresa! So I ended up needing to make these cookies last night and this time I swapped the tapioca flour for cornstarch — I’m thinking the tapioca may have been what made them spread a little too much if you don’t measure the flour properly. With the cornstarch, I definitely needed the full 8 tablespoons of milk, but they turned out great. I’ll update the recipe and add a note about that swap soon.
Made a batch with sunflower seed butter and they turned out fabulous! They spread pretty thin while baking, but still taste amazing!
Oh no! Sorry they spread. Could be the type of sunflower seed butter or chilling time. But glad you still enjoyed them.
I made these cookies using a 1 for 1 flour sub. They turned out tasting like muffins and were a complete hit. I couldn’t find my cranberries so I subbed chopped pecans and diced dried apples. Definitely keeping this recipe around.
Do these cookies freeze well?
They should be able to!
Thank you, I like to make cookies ahead so will be making these soon and freezing, some, not all!
They do! I have frozen some already!
Made these cookies today for a vegan, gluten-free friend. Not sure what I did wrong but they looked nothing like the pictures. They are very dark brown and the consistency is more like a very moist and chewy muffin. Several people who tried them said they were delicious, but “wouldn’t call it a cookie…” This was my first time baking anything gluten-free. Any idea what might have happened?
Totally understand! What flour did you use? And what type of molasses?
Hey! Thanks so much for your reply! I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Flour and Simply Balanced organic blackstrap molasses.
Gotcha. Ya, sometimes the gluten free flours have more xanthan or guar gum which made them chewy. Have you tried bob’s 1:1 GF flour?
also the black strap molasses could make them dark. Hey, if they are good than that’s great! vegan GF cooking is hard. Let’s call them Mookies. Muffin cookies. Haha!
Haha! Mookies! We were trying to think up another name for whatever it was that I ended up making and decided on “Molasses Morsels.” 🙂 Anyhow, they are definitely not Instagram worthy like your gorgeous pics but we love them (especially my two year old, we never let her eat cookies but these are loaded with good stuff so I’m cool with it), so thanks for the recipe! I’ll definitely be spending some more time on your site!
can you use a different flour besides cassava flour?
yep! cassava is a 1:1 ratio to most other flours. So you can use regular, multi purpose, etc.
Okay! I have ALWAYS WONDERED THIS: wtf is molasses! lol! I know it’s a sweentener but like… WHAT IS IT?!
it’s actually sugar beet juice which is boiled down to a syrup. So ya, you could totally bathe in it. kidding.. kinda
Super yummy and delicious. I love cranberry and these sounds just perfect!
thanks friend! i think you’d like post run too. haha. just sayin
I had no idea that molasses had that much iron! Very cool. Also, I’d gobble up these cookies. NOM.
yes! so obsessed with it because iron.. and well, yumness factor
Because molasses is good for you, I use it often: on top of a sweet potato, oatmeal, nut butter on toast or with plain yogurt and fruit.
Um, NO IDEA Molasses was so nutritious! This is why I love you. And “…or even long rides.” I die. <3
Haha well for those crazy endurance people
That much iron and magnesium is also great for people who are pregnant and maybe not wanting to eat all the greens. You’re a genius.
Did I ever tell you your almond mango bars helped get me through my first trimester? For real, I wanted virtually nothing and felt queasy all the time, yet those brought me solid food, a nice dose of vitamins and happiness.
P.S. I want to do a post sometime in the future on legit super foods, not the marketing hyped ones. We should join forces.
I can always count on you to have the best gf recipes! Looks like another great idea for holiday gifts.
Molasses is the new superfood! I knew about it’s great ability to help refuel after workouts but I didn’t know you could get that much iron from it! What a great tip!! And yes I can’t wait to bake all the cookies! These are certainly going on my list!
cookies are always a great idea and it is so much better than packaged stuff.
Gimme, gimme, gimme! I want all of these!!! Pinning!
sending you virtual cookies now! xxoo
I honestly didn’t know that molasses was that healthy! I need to try some – especially to make cookies like these delicious ones! Love the cranberry and almond combo – yum!
LOVE molasses! 🙂 these cookies have me drooling like usual!
you need! <3
One can never be too early for cookies, or have too many cookies for that matter! LOVING these cranberry almond molasses cookies, chicka! I had NO clue molasses was so good for you! That totally means I can eat a dozen of these cookies in one sitting, right? 🙂 SO YUM! Cheers – to a fabulous Thanksgiving week! <3
my thoughts exactly!
at least a dozen is recommended. 😉
You are reading my mind with these cookies!
I have been looking for GF cookie recipes to try for the holidays and these sound right up my alley! All the holiday flavours!
so glad! let me know if you try them!
I STILL need to get my hands on the cassava flour. Love me some molasses.
girl, you’d love! it’s so versatile!
With these fun facts about molasses, you make me feel a little less bad about myself for eating it by the tablespoon 😛 These look soooo delicious though, like I said, love my molasses!
never feel bad about molasses! spoon it up! <3
Gahhhh I love molasses and Miguel hates it and I am convinced there’s something wrong with him. These photos are gorgeous Lindsay!
there is definitely something wrong with him! although my husband hates pumpkin. Weird guys
Molasses is pretty amazing! It’s the one “sugar” I don’t mind using 😉
Ooh, brilliant! I am a big fan of molasses. I remember my midwife recommending molasses tea when I was pregnant for extra iron- just a spoonful of molasses in hot water and it was delicious!
mmm i like that! i’ll have to try it next!
I go through the BIGGEST molasses obsession every year starting around this time. I think one year I even managed to polish off an entire bottle of the stuff in a couple of months 😆 But it’s so tasty! And I love what you said about being able to make cookies a nutritious snack with the right ingredients — totally the moto I live by.
i always think of you with cooking with molasses. xxoo
This recipe came at the perfect time! I just bought a jar of molasses to make some gingerbread cookies for my hubby and was wondering what else I could make with it….these are DEFINITELY getting pinned!! 🙂 Thanks for sharing…you seriously have some of the best recipes out there!!! ~P
so glad! and saw you used BOB’s 1:1. that’s a great flour! how was the sweetness?
The sweetness was perfect!! I used 3 Tablespoons of molasses & brown sugar 🙂 My 2 yr old son gobbled them right up!
wonderful!
You are the one who turned me onto molasses…I LOVE it…although I haven’t used it in a really long time…Happy Monday friend! XOXO
I did? yay! love you!
These cookies sound delicious! I love to hear that molasses is the new superfood…because I’ve been using it a lot recently! In oatmeal, in cookies, the list goes on. 🙂
oh i need it in oatmeal next, yes! genius
since these are healthy, I can eat them all in one sitting, right? Another perfect recipe, pinned 🙂
totally legit!
I love molasses! I make a gingerbread cookie every christmas with molasses. Makes them so chewy! I need to figure out more recipes that use molasses!
Considering how much I love that sweet potato sunshine cereal, you better BELIEVE I’m a molasses fan! My only problem is that I wish I could buy a little bit less of it at a time. Like buying bulk pb or honey. What if I don’t need a gallon of it?
we should ask whole foods to make a molasses fountain! haha
I don’t need an excuse to eat a cookie…holiday or healthy is just a bonus! I love molasses but certainly do not use it enough!
so true! now you better get to eatin more of it asap! LOL!
I’m a little obsessed with molasses right now and just used it for another recipe. I love how rich and how healthy it is. The cranberries make these even better though – that’s another winter cookie obsession 🙂
currently craving your gingersnaps! YES! trade you cookies