You all know I’m not into anything fancy. The simpler the better when it comes to pretty much everything from food to clothes to schedules. So it probably doesn’t surprise you that I took my basic Sweet and Simple Butter Cookies recipe and added one tiny ingredient to make these Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies. Hmmm, I bet you can’t guess which ingredient I added. (Indeed, my ways are so mysterious.)
I’m not a big fan of raisins in my cookies. But adding dried cranberries to this simple butter cookie? Well, that takes them up a notch without adding any effort. Phew, no added effort? Well, that’s a relief. We cannot be expected to add effort to our cookie-baking endeavors. That takes all the fun out of eating a cookie.
Oh! But don’t you worry about me giving you permission to eat a cookie. These are low in sugar, with just a little extra added sugar when we toss in the dried cranberries. And check out how few ingredients these have? Just 5 simple items to grab to make these delights!
Sweet and Simple Cranberry Cookies
- 1½ cups melted butter
- ½ cup sugar (raw, white, brown, or sucanat)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl.
- Stir in vanilla extract.
- Mix in flour until well combined.
- Fold in dried cranberries.
- Scoop Tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto cookie sheets.
- Press the dough down with your fingers or a fork.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Want more fun low-sugar cookie recipes?
Here’s a great list of all we’ve come up with to share so far!
- Sweet and Simple Butter Cookies
- Low Sugar Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies
- Buttery Almond Cookies
- Simple Oatmeal Cookies
- Honey Sweetened No-Bake Cookies
- Easy {Low} Sugar Cookies
- Low Sugar Lemon Melt-Away Cookies
- Low Sugar Almond Melt-Away Cookies
- Low Sugar Orange Melt-Away Cookies
- Low Sugar Lime Melt-Away Cookies
- Low Sugar Chocolate Fudge Cookies
- Low Sugar Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Low Sugar Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Cut-Out Cookies
- Low Sugar Chocolate Brownies
- Low Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Want more fun recipes that include 5 or fewer ingredients?
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What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Ever tried cutting down the sugar in the recipe to see how it turns out?
WOW! No eggs??
Right? That makes these crisp and buttery!
This recipe is not low sugar with 1-1/2 C of sugar. I checked your butter cookie recipe which shows 1/3-1/2 C sugar. That makes more sense. Since you have shown us that less is more with the sugar I have reduced the amount of sugar in just about everything that I make now. And my family hasn’t noticed the difference. Thank you for continuing to show us easy, simple, eatable, good food.
WHOA!!! I am so glad you pointed that out! I have no idea what happened there as it was not supposed to say 1 1/2 cups!!! Eeek. I edited it, thanks to your catch!
We made it before it was fixed and it was SWEET. I was wondering why they were considered low sugar too, but just went with it. We’ll definitely lower the sugar next time, but they were a total hit with the crowd we shared them with :)
For some reason, the dough was dry & crumbly & I had to wet my hands to form the cookies. But, they are very delicious! I definitely plan to make them again & try reducing the flour.
Well, I figured out why the cookie dough was dry & crumbly! I used 1 1/2 sticks of butter, instead of 1 1/2 cups! So, it’s my fault! Oh well, they’re still delicious with a glass of milk!
Glad you figured it out, and that they still tasted good!
-Bethany (Laura’s assistant)