Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cranberries and Walnuts
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If you’re looking for a cookie that tastes like autumn, these pumpkin oatmeal cookies hit the spot. They’re soft and chewy, filled with warm spices, and just sweet enough to feel like a treat without being overwhelming.
The combination of pumpkin purée, oats, dried cranberries, and walnuts makes them hearty and satisfying. My family loves them fresh from the oven, but they also freeze beautifully so you can enjoy homemade cookies whenever you like.
These cookies were even a hit with the boys, who normally aren’t big on oatmeal cookies. They definitely go on the “keeper” list.
I use homemade pumpkin puree, but canned is okay, too. This recipe adapts well to make gluten free pumpkin oatmeal cookies, or cookies with fresh ground soft wheat flour. My favorite off the shelf all-purpose wheat flour is King Arthur brand, and my favorite gluten free option is Namaste.
Use quick cooking oatmeal for a softer cookie, old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal for a chewier pumpkin cookie. You can substitute more cinnamon if you don’t have cardamom, and raisins if you don’t have dried cranberries. If you prefer, swap in pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon and cardamom.
Lately, I’ve been using Honestly Cranberry brand dried cranberries. They’re a small Wisconsin company, and the berries are freeze dried without oils or extra sugar. I found them when I was looking for dried cranberries without added oils for a friend with food allergies. They are a little more expensive, but you’re getting all fruit instead of oil and sugar.
Table of contents
Homemade Pumpkin Purée (Optional)
I prefer homemade purée for that fresh, bright pumpkin flavor. If you’d like to skip canned pumpkin:
- Halve a winter squash, scoop out seeds.
- Roast cut-side down in a pan with 1 inch of water, 350°F for 45–60 minutes. A fork should easily penetrate the skin and flesh.
- Scoop flesh, blend until smooth. Freeze extra in recipe-sized portions.
Note: With extremely dry winter squash like Red Kuri, you made need to add a little water to get a smooth puree. If you can’t cut the squash in half before baking, you can bake it whole and separate the skin and seeds after it cools.
See “How to Cook Pumpkin or Winter Squash – 3 Easy Methods” for different cooking options.
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cranberries and Walnuts
Bake up a batch of chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies filled with cranberries and walnuts. It’s an easy recipe – freezer-friendly and perfect for fall baking.
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 ounces) butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (squash) or 1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or gluten free flour blend
- 1 cup uncooked oatmeal – quick cooking for a softer cookie, old fashioned or steel cut for a chewier cookie
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional – increase cinnamon if you don’t have cardamom)
Ingredients to Add Last
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
Heat oven to 350°. Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper or reusable parchment sheets.
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Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until well blended. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin.
Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until blended. Stir in cranberries and chopped nuts.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges and set. These are tender cookies. Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan to set up before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips for Success
- Make ahead: These cookies freeze well. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container.
- Swap-ins: Try raisins or dried cherries instead of cranberries, or sunflower seeds instead of nuts. For the chocolate hounds, you can swap in some chocolate chips if you like.
- Equipment tip: Reusable parchment and insulated baking sheets help prevent overbrowning.
- I love my big grid-style cooling rack – nothing falls through it.
FAQ – Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Yes, just substitute a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend and certified gluten-free oats.
You can use coconut oil or a dairy-free butter substitute in place of butter.
Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, they’ll stay fresh for 3–4 days. Freeze for longer storage (up to 3 months).
Yes, you can cut the sugar by about 25% without affecting texture too much, though the cookies will be less sweet.
Fresh cranberries work, but they’ll add extra moisture. Chop them small and reduce the pumpkin purée slightly for balance.
Why I don’t use Jack O’ Lantern Pumpkins in my Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Most big orange carving pumpkins are watery and bland, so they don’t shine in baked goods. Instead, I use sweeter, denser winter squash (like Galeux d’Eysines or Red Kuri) or heirloom pumpkins with rich orange flesh.
Fun fact: Libby’s canned pumpkin is actually made from Dickenson pumpkins—a variety of Cucurbita moschata. These are big – up to 40 pounds and pale skinned (not bright orange). Jack o’ lanterns are usually Cucurbita maxima species.
The five domesticated squash species are Cucurbita maxima, C. moschata, C. pepo, C. argyrosperma, and C. ficifolia. Maxima, moshata and pepo are the most commonly cultivated in the United States.
PrintPumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cranberries and Walnuts
Bake up a batch of chewy pumpkin oatmeal cookies filled with cranberries and walnuts. Easy recipe, freezer-friendly, and perfect for fall baking.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 ounces) butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin (squash) puree or 1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or gluten free flour blend
- 1 cup uncooked oatmeal – quick cooking for a softer cookie, old fashioned or steel cut for a chewier cookie
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Ingredients to add last
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°. Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper or reusable parchment sheets.
- Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl until well blended. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin.
- Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until blended. Stir in cranberries or tart cherries and chopped nuts.
- Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges and set. These are tender cookies. Let them cool for a few minutes on the pan to set up before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
You can substitute more cinnamon if you don’t have cardamom, or use pumpkin pie spice instead.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cookies
More Pumpkin Recipes
You may also enjoy:
- Pumpkin Fruit Leather – portable pumpkin pie
- Pumpkin Pasta
- How to make Pumpkin Wine
- Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Maple Cinnamon Whipped Cream
- Pumpkin Spice Scones
This article is written by Laurie Neverman. Laurie grew up in the kitchen, learning baking and home cooking from her momma. At age 15, she and her mom and two sisters created Irene’s Custom Cakes & Catering. This was her summer job through most of high school and college.
Originally posted in 2012, last updated in 2025.
These cookies look like something my family and I would really enjoy. I love pumpkin but I don’t cook or bake with it enough. I also like the fact that you can use squash over pumpkin, I’m sure the different varieties would change the flavor just a bit. I’m going to have to give these a try ad see how we like them, though I am sure we will love them.
Hi Laurie,
This comment is the only way I could find to send a message. I got here from the newsletter email I signed up from you. On this one, you mentioned “counts” and links and stuff. i would love to help you and I love your site. You are the reason I bought 20 pounds of flour and 3 bread pans!:) However, I am not on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. How can us old fogies help???
Keep up the good work.
Hi Deb.
Thank you so much for taking time to reach out. All you have to do to make contact is hit “reply” to the email. I need to make that more clear in the future.
I hope the bread baking is going well. It seems we’ve finally hit baking weather here in Northeast Wisconsin – so cool and damp today!
If you’d like to help but aren’t on social media, the simplest thing is to just let your friends know about the site or a specific recipe the old fashioned way – tell them about it. 🙂 All the social media stuff changes from day to day, but personal recommendations never go out of style.
Thank you, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question or topic that you would like covered.
Like Laurie said, word of mouth. Sharing info about CommonSenseHome works as good, if not better than the online stuff. Tell friends, family and your community about the website and how it helps.
Thanks for the kind words!
I use King Arthur Flour too, as well as many of their recipes. Do you measure your flour like they do in this recipe or do you dip and level?
I tend to be a grab and go baker, unless I know a recipe is fussy (and this one isn’t). I dip and level, or dip and call it close enough.
I use Pamela’s baking mix. I used to have to buy at the health food store but now my supermarket carries it. Unlike coconut mix etc you can just measure out just as you would with flour. This is gluten free and I have loved it in everything from cookies to pancakes. It is a bit on the expensive side but still worth it.
I was happy with Pamela’s when I used it, too. Lately I’ve been using the Namaste gluten free flour blend from Costco.
Add white chocolate chips to it and use pecans and almonds, and that would be almost the perfect cookie! The PERFECT one would be if you added all the aforementioned, plus chocolate chips! 🙂
I was wondering about the calorie / carb/ etc. information. Do you have that available for these delicious sounding pumpkin-oatmeal cookies?
Sorry, these are not low carb, low sugar or low fat, that much I’m sure of. I’m afraid if you feel the need to ask, they’ll be outside your acceptable parameters. I’m not a number cruncher when it comes to food. I believe in aiming to consume mostly nutrient dense food, with some allowances for food that is simply a pleasure to eat.
Could you give the total grams of sodium in this recipe? Can’t wait to make these cookies.
I don’t monitor or limit sodium intake, but you can MyfitnesspPal recipe analyzer to crunch the numbers if you would like.
Have you tried the cookies with no flour at all. I have done a banana and quick oats cookie that is perfect with no flour and I’m curious if these would turn out the same way. I would hate to throw out the whole batch if it won’t work. Thanks!!
I’d hate to throw out a whole batch of cookies, too, so let me know if you try it. These are a very moist cookie already, so if the flour was dropped you’d definitely need to add more dry ingredients.
These cookies look wonderful! and what timing! A couple of my banana squashes have begun to have soft spots–probably due to squash bug damage. So, today I’ve been cooking up, pureeing and freezing the pulp for fall recipes-especially pumpkin pie. But this twist on pumpkin cookies looks yummy. I think I’ll save back a cup or two of squash pulp and try the recipe. Thanks!
You’re welcome. I really like the combination of the crunch from the nuts and tartness of the cranberries. It’s a yummy!
You’ve got these filled with all kinds of goodies! A touch of cardamon is always welcome along with the more usual warm spices like cinnamon, and I’m sure the pumpkin itself makes these cookies nice and soft. I see you have a small duck egg as an option: I just baked with duck eggs for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I was amazed at how much loft they gave the cookies I made. Clearly superior to a hen’s egg for baking.
Is there an easy way to save this recipe? When I try to copy it, I seem to get all the advertising on the sides. I am trying to put it in word.
I don’t see a print key either.
I usually just left click at the start of a section I want to copy, then use the scroll wheel to slide down the page and highlight the text, then right click and select “copy”. Then I paste into Word. Sorry I don’t have an easy print option. Only so many hours in the day and I haven’t figured that out yet.
This is THE best thing I’ve found on the internet this year: http://www.printfriendly.com/. It’s in my bookmarks, so when I find a recipe or post or whatever that I want to print, I open my bookmarks, click on the “Print Friendly” option, and it makes it into a PDF for me with a couple of clicks from me. You can save it or print it; fabulous! Hope this helps!
Shani
Thanks, Shani!
I have a question for you about your crispy walnuts. I have soaked & dehydrated almonds and walnuts so far…the almonds ROCK! They are superior to the plain ones. But…the walnuts, both times I’ve tried, taste…um…kinda fishy. I did not prefer them over the raw at all. Do you have this problem with walnuts, and if not, what is your secret??? the recipe looks wonderful, by the way…I’m pinning it!
What kind of walnuts did you use? When I used fresh shelled walnuts, they were amazing. They tasted almost like toffee nuts. When I brought preshelled nuts from the store, even with soaking and drying, I couldn’t get close to that flavor. Walnut oil oxidizes very quickly, so I hate to say it, but I suspect most shelled walnuts are somewhat rancid.
Yeah… Preshelled from Costco. Out of the bag they’re great ( ) but soaked… Blech. You’re probably right on the rancid thing. 🙁 thanks!