Easy, Chewy Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies with Craisins and Walnuts

These Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies are crunchy around the edges and chewy and soft in the middle. They are dotted with gooey dark chocolate chips, sour-sweet dried cranberries, and the satisfying crunch of chopped walnuts.

Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies are the perfect treat! Loaded with oats, they can serve as an afternoon snack. Or you can serve them up with ice cream for a simple but satisfying dessert.

They also make a fantastic option for the freezer (either in dough form or baked cookie form) if you need a cool pick me up in the middle of a hot summer day, or want to make them in advance to pull out for unexpected guests later on.

Where Did These Chewy Oatmeal Cookies Come From?

These Oatmeal Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips have been my personal favorite and go-to cookie recipe for more than 20 years.

I got a Betty Crocker Cookbook for my 12th birthday from my aunt, because she knew I was starting to enjoy baking. There is a recipe in that cookbook for oatmeal raisin cookies which calls for 2/3 cup brown sugar and 2/3 cup white sugar.

That seemed like a lot of sugar for 24 cookies, so I started experimenting with reducing the sugar. I also like chocolate better than raisins, so I started tweaking the mix-ins as well.

Over the next 6 years, this recipe became my version of perfect oatmeal cookies.

I remember keeping balls of dough in my freezer during my senior year of university and rewarding myself with a cookie dough ball every time I finished a section of my literature theory textbook because I needed SOMETHING to motivate me through that reading!

I hope you give these cookies a try and love them. And then I hope they keep coming back to your home again and again and again to bless you with all their delicious flavor combination goodness!

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Why You’ll Love These Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies

I can’t imagine a world where people don’t like cookies with oatmeal and dark chocolate in them, but in case you need some solid reasons, I’d love to supply them.

You’re going to love these cookies for several reasons:

• Chewy Texture: These cookies are soft, not crispy or hard, with just a tiny hint of crunch around the edges. Since they’re full of oats, they are hearty and chewy.
• Flavor Balance: If you’re a fan of trail mix (specifically crunchy nuts, chewy dried fruit, and sweet pops of chocolate), you’re going to love these oatmeal dark chocolate cookies! The craisins are tart and tangy, the walnuts and nutty and crunchy, and the dark chocolate chips have that perfect bitter/sweet combination.
• Healthier Option: Since these cookies have healthy ingredients like oats, fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate, along with a relatively minimal amount of sugar (compared to MANY cookie recipes out there), this cookie provides a healthier dessert or sweet treat option than many baked goods
• Large Batch: This recipe makes a LARGE batch of cookies. We’re talking about 50 cookies. I do this on purpose, because I ALWAYS freeze some of the dough for later.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies

You’ll need 12 common household ingredients for Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies, with an optional 13th ingredient:

• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Salt
• Vanilla
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Flour
• Oats
• Dark Chocolate Chips
• Craisins
• Walnuts
• Molasses (optional)

Step-by-Step Instructions for Making These Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1. Preheat the oven and prepare your baking sheet. I personally love using baking paper because it makes clean up so easy!
2. Cream together the butter and sugar. You’ll want to make sure the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter.
3. Add eggs to butter and sugar and mix until fluffy. Scrape down the edges to get everything evenly mixed together.
4. Add molasses, vanilla, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix together with butter mixture. Continued to scrape down the edges of the bowl as needed.
5. Gradually add the flour until flour is incorporated. I like to do it in 1/2 cup intervals.
6. Stir in the oats gradually. You may need to switch to a wooden spoon at this point, as the dough will be quite stiff.
7. Stir in the dark chocolate chips, craisins, and walnuts until the add-ins are evenly distributed.
8. Scoop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. I like to space them about 1.5 inches (3-4 cm) apart
9. Bake for 9 minutes, remove from oven, and cool on a cooling rack. It’s best to let them cool for at least 10 minutes before moving them to the cooling rack.

FAQ about these Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• What kind of oats do I need to use?
  Either quick-cooking oats OR old-fashioned rolled oats work fine in this recipe.
  
• How can I make these cookies gluten-free?
  You can substitute your favorite gluten-free flour mix instead of using all purpose flour.
  
• Can I substitute other types of chocolate or nuts or fruit?
  Absolutely! Try milk chocolate, white chocolate, or M&M’s in place of the dark chocolate chips. dark chocolate chips. They all work!
  
  You can also swap the walnuts for chopped almonds, chopped pecans, or chopped peanuts. And if you need to go nut-free, you can use pumpkin seeds.
  
  If you want to try other fruit options, chopped dried apricots or dried blueberries are delicious with dark chocolate.
  
• I don’t have a hand mixer or stand mixer, can I make these by hand?
  Yes, you can. Take the time to thoroughly mix the butter and sugar with your wooden spoon, and then add the eggs. Your dough might not get fluffy, but make sure it has started to come together.
  
  So you may want to use a whisk and combine your baking powder and baking soda into your flour separately so they are well distributed before you add that to the butter mixture, but it should come together and still be delicious cookies!
  
• What kind of sugar do I need to use?
  You can use 100% brown sugar and skip the molasses. Or you can also use 100% white sugar and add molasses for a bit more of the rich molasses flavor. I’ve also made these without molasses and they are still tasty.
  
  You can also use raw sugar or castor sugar if needed. The texture of the dough (if you’re a cookie dough eater) will be a little grainy if you use raw sugar, but it will still taste delicious!

How do I Serve and Store these Chewy Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Cookies?

There are endless ways to serve these old fashion oatmeal cookies:

• Enjoy them with a cold glass of milk, hot coffee, or tea.
• Perfect for lunchboxes or as a sweet treat at gatherings.
• Delicious side to a hearty omelette or sheet pan eggs for breakfast (it’s like a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form!).
• Munch on them frozen for a summer snack.

And storing them is a breeze:

• Press the dough into a rectangular cookie sheet lined with baking paper, freeze, and then chop into approximately 1.5 tablespoon squares to store for baking another time.
• Bake the whole batch and freeze half of it for later.
• Keep the baked cookies in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week, or on the counter top in a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Set Aside 20 Minutes To Mix Up These Delicious Chewy Oatmeal Cookies!

These oatmeal dark chocolate cookies are easy to whip up, and you can customize the add-ins with so many different options!

And if you never actually bake the cookies and just eat the cookie dough, I’m not judging you! (Yes, raw eggs and all.) Frozen cookie dough with the fantastic crunch of frozen chocolate is one of my favorite things.

Try this recipe and come back to tell me what you thought. And if you use substitutions, let me know in the comments what you opted for!

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Happy Baking!