The BEST Vegan Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies filled with juicy dried cranberries, fresh orange zest, & pools of melty dark chocolate! You are going to love these dairy-free & egg-free cranberry orange cookies with chewy centers and crispy edges.
Steps to make cranberry chocolate chip cookies
Testing this recipe was so much fun! I knew I wanted a chewy cookie that wasn't too thin, but that still spread a bit while baking for a crispier edge. After a few tests, I can tell you this is exactly the texture of the cranberry cookie recipe you have here!
Let's take a deeper dive into the steps to make cranberry orange chocolate chip cookies:
Step 1: Cream the Butter & Sugar Together
For this recipe, you're going to use room temperature vegan butter, white sugar, AND brown sugar. It's incredibly important that the butter is cold, but is still soft enough to leave an indent when pressed.
Creaming together the cold butter and sugar together helps to beat air into the butter and the sugar helps to hold that structure. This is the same process I use in many cookie recipes like these Cinnamon Roll Cookies & Funfetti Sugar Cookies.
Why is brown sugar so important?
In case you are wondering, I did try this recipe with JUST white sugar and it didn't turn out great.
Why? First, the molasses in brown sugar adds a depth of flavor that white sugar just doesn't have. Second, the molasses in brown sugar provides the acidic component needed to work with the baking soda to make it softer and give them some spread.
Step 2: Add In The Rest of The "Wet" Ingredients
Wet ingredients usually refer to anything that isn't flour, salt, dried spice, or a leavening agent such as baking powder or baking soda. In this recipe, the wet ingredients include orange zest, vanilla extract, and a flax egg.
Fun Fact: The ground flaxseed and water in this recipe are actually acting as an egg replacement called a "flax egg" since this vegan cookie recipe is made without eggs! While it doesn't provide the leavening power of eggs, it helps to bind the cookies together. In most cookie recipes, a flax egg can be subbed 1:1 for a normal medium-sized egg.
Step 3: Sift & Add the Dry Ingredients
First, sift the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Sifting the dry ingredients is recommended to avoid any clumps of baking powder or baking soda in the dough. Then, add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix until a thick dough forms.
Step 4: Fold in the Dried Cranberries & Chocolate Chips/Chunks
For this recipe, I used Patience Fruit Co Dried Cranberries. I love that they have the option to purchase dried cranberries that have been cut in half so they are the perfect size to disperse throughout cookies. Plus, they are organic!
What vegan chocolate is recommend?
When it comes to vegan chocolate, I have a few suggestions:
First up is Lily's Dark Chocolate which I used in this recipe. It's stevia-sweetened, so I like that it's a *tiny* bit healthier. After that, my next favorite would probably be a tie between Pascha Organic (which I used in these Espresso Brookies) & Theo chocolate (though not all of Theo's flavors are vegan).
I almost forgot to mention, if you want those perfect sea salt flakes on top sprinkle on a little Maldon Sea Salt to top these cranberry dark chocolate cookies!
Step 5: Scoop the Vegan Cookie Dough Into Balls & Into the Fridge!
Once the dough is formed, I like to use a 1 Tbsp cookie scoop to scoop the cookies onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Next, the cookies go into the fridge for 30 minutes- 1 hour.
The cookies you see in the pictures here were only in the fridge for around 45 minutes.
The longer you chill your vegan cookie dough the less it will spread during baking. Like my Vegan Orange Cardamom Sugar Cookies, I love giving my cookies just 30 minutes- 1 hour of chill time as it leads to cookies that are chewier & have a better concentration of flavor. Don't skip this step!
Step 6: Bake The Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Preheat the oven to 350F, take the cookie dough out of the fridge and bake the dried cranberry cookies for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will be done when they are cooked through yet still soft in the center. Basically, you want the cookie centers to just barely be cooked, but no longer glossy, when you remove them from the oven.
I like to let my cookies rest on the warm baking sheet for a few minutes before I move them to a cookie cooling rack!
Whether you are on the hunt for the perfect vegan Christmas cookie, a cookie filled with dried cranberries, or one filled with oozing pools of chocolate- these Vegan Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies will deliver! As always, let me know if you have any questions and I can't wait to see your cookie creations.
-TSG
More Vegan Cookies Recipes You Will Love:
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Vegan Cranberry Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegan butter room temperature, salted- if not salted add ¼ tsp salt to cookie dough
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon orange zest
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 flax egg 1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water, let sit 5-10 minutes
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup vegan chocolate chunks or chocolate chips
- 1-2 teaspoon flaky sea salt optional, as topping
Instructions
- Begin by creaming the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Once creamed, add in the orange zest, vanilla extract, and flax egg. Mix to combine.
- Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a separate mixing bowl. Next, add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixer with wet ingredients. Mix until a thick dough forms. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not wet. If the dough is a bit too dry add in 1 more Tbsp of oat milk.
- Once the orange cookie dough has formed, gently mix in the dried cranberries and chocolate chunks with a spatula. Cover the bowl of dough and add to the fridge for 30 minutes- 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350F. Use a 1.5-2 Tbsp cookie scooper to scoop the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper (about 45-50 grams of dough per cookie). The dough should form about 12-14 evenly sized cookies. Make sure to leave space between the dough as the cookies will spread while baking. If cookies do not fit on one tray, it's best to bake only one tray at a time.
- Add the tray of cookies to the oven and bake for 12-13 minutes until cooked through.
- Remove the cookie tray from the oven and immediately tap the tray on the counter to produce a more “wrinkly” cookie and help deflate the cookies. For round cookies, use a round cookie cutter (or large mug in my case!) that is slightly larger than the cookie and swirl the cookies around inside to form them into a round cookie. This step will only work if you do it while the cookies are still warm.
- Add the cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling. Then, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Cookies can be stored in the freezer in a closed container up to 1 month & in a closed container at room temperature for 3-4 days. I do not recommend storing the cookies in the fridge as it dries out baked goods.
LAURA GRISWOLD says
Quick Question: can the dough be moulded and then frozen to bake a few days later?
These are delicious and would like to make for gifts. Just hoping to be able to make ahead and save time.
Megan says
Definitely- just scoop the cookie dough into balls and then add to a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate so they're not touching to freeze. Once frozen, you can store them in a freezer-safe bag for up to 1 month. They will need a little more baking time in the oven (about 2-3 minutes) but you can add them in from the freezer. I also actually prefer baking them and then freezing the baked cookies.They keep their texture perfectly when frozen for about 1 month as well.
Laura g says
Thank you. I will try both.
Katie says
These were AMAZING. The salt at the end makes these cookies. So chewy and delish.
Megan Horowitch says
Thank you for sharing so happy you liked them!!