Make chocolate chip cookies holiday season ready with these Gluten Free Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re festive, cozy, and just different enough to feel special - plus they’re fully gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. The sweet-tart cranberries balance the richness of the chocolate so you get a cookie that tastes like December in every bite.
As someone who lives with chronic illness and still loves a good holiday treat, finding ways to enjoy the season without sacrificing my health has been game-changing. That’s exactly why I create and share these allergy-friendly desserts - because nobody should feel restricted or left out at a celebration. You deserve cookies that love you back.
These gluten free holiday cookies are a prime example of that! These cookies are free from major allergens all while still being delicious. Chocolate chip cookies are a classic for a reason and they're perfect for any time of year, but adding cranberries gives them a bold, festive twist. Instead of the traditional cranberry and white chocolate chips (we’ve all seen that one a thousand times), we’re using dark chocolate chips for a richer, deeper flavor that pairs beautifully with the tart fruit.
Why You'll Love This Holiday Cranberry Cookie Recipe:
- Allergy friendly: these chocolate chip cookies are gluten free, dairy free, and nut free making them a delicious and safe treat for holiday cookie boxes, Christmas parties, or gifting.
- Lower sugar: Made with half the sugar of classic chocolate chip cookies, plus coconut sugar for a richer flavor and lower-glycemic option that still tastes amazing.
- Easy to make: No complicated steps - mix the dough, fold in your chocolate and cranberries, scoop, and bake. Holiday baking does not have to be stressful.
Gluten Free Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients:
- Gluten free flour: use a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour mixture with xantham gum for best results.
- Tigernut flour: a nut free alternative to almond flour that still provides natural sweetness and a slightly nutty flavor. You can also use almond flour instead.
- Tapioca starch: adding a little bit of starch to gluten free cookies helps achieve a chewy cookie.
- Butter or coconut oil: stick to a plant based butter to keep this recipe dairy free. Butter gives a classic cookie texture; coconut oil results in a crispier cookie.
- Coconut sugar: provides a rich flavor with a slight molasses hint, similar to brown sugar.
- Egg: you'll need 1 large egg for these cookies.
- Chocolate Chips: I opt for dark chocolate since it's my favorite, but semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips would also work. Stick to a refined sugar free option to keep this recipe fully RSF. I love the HU Kitchen chocolate chips or gems. Enjoy Life also makes great allergy friendly chocolate. You can use a mix of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate to get the pools of melty chocolate.
- Dried cranberries: stick to dried, sweetened cranberries for sweetness. It can be hard to find refined sugar free sweetened cranberries, so you may opt for using unsweetened, but the tart cranberries will definitely add a punch!
- Baking powder, baking soda, pure vanilla extract, salt, and flaky salt
How to Make Gluten Free Cranberry and Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Preheat oven 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate and cranberries.
- If you used hot butter and the batter is runny, pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes before scooping.
- Scoop tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet 2 inches apart (these cookies spread, so leave enough space!).
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 8-12 minutes, until edges are just golden brown and centers seem not quite done. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt upon removal. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 before transferring to a wire rack.
Substitutions and Variations
- Tigernut flour: you can always use almond flour instead, but you cannot sub more gluten free flour. It will change the flavor of these cookies and possibly the texture too.
- Tapioca starch: you can try using arrowroot or corn starch instead.
- Coconut sugar: I have not tested this recipe using any other sugar, but a 50/50 mix of white sugar and brown sugar should work!
- Add-ins and variations: if you prefer white chocolate, sub white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips. Try dried cherries instead of cranberries. Drop the chocolate chip and cranberry amounts to a ¼ cup each and add another ¼ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans for crunch. Add a punchy citrus twist by adding a ¼-1/2 teaspoon orange zest to the batter.
How to Store Cranberry Chocolate Cookies
Store gluten free chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the fridge for a week. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months.
FAQ
I always suggest doing 1 or 2 test batches by baking one cookie at a time and seeing what bake time is most appropriate for your oven. Cookies should seem not quite done when you pull them out of the oven. If they are fully solid when pulled out, you've over baked them as they will continue to bake as they cool and then be crunchy in the end.
This can happen if the batter was too warm when you scooped the cookies or if you used a different gluten free flour blend than I recommend (stick to King Arthur or Bob's Red Mill). If the melted fat wasn't cooled, the dough will be warm and spread a lot. Either let the fat cool before using or pop the cookie batter into the fridge for 30 minutes before scooping and baking. If the batter still seems runny after these tips, add an extra tablespoon of flour to the dough.
You most likely over measured the flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into your measuring cup then level it off so you don't pack in too much flour.
I have not tested a vegan option. If you try a flax egg, leave a comment letting us know how it worked!
More Gluten Free Holiday Cookies You Have to Try:
Paleo Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Healthy Gluten Free Sugar Cookies
Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Gluten Free Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup + 1 Tbsp 1:1 gluten free flour
- ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp tigernut flour or almond flour
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter or coconut oil melted and cooled
- ½ cup + 2 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips or ¼ cup each of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate bar (this gets the pooled chocolate)
- ⅓ cup dried, sweetened cranberries
- extra flaky salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flours, starch, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and set aside.
- Whisk the butter/oil and sugar together.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a spatula to mix until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate and cranberries.
- If you didn't let your butter/oil cool enough and the dough is too runny, just pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes before scooping.
- Scoop tablespoon size servings of dough onto the baking sheets, 2 inches apart (these cookies spread, so leave enough space!).
- Bake for 8-12 minutes, until edges are just golden. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt upon removal. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5-10 then transfer to a wire rack.
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