What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? If I had to pick one, it would be a toss-up between chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies and cream (which is kind of ironic, since I don’t like cookie dough or cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies). All this to say, I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to come up with this cranola creation.
Like funfetti cake cookie granola, there is nothing nutritionally redeeming in this recipe. It’s all butter, cream cheese, refined sugar and flour, and a generous helping of Oreo pieces. But it is worth every calorie. Enjoy cookies and cream cranola by the handful or go wild and sprinkle it atop a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream.
P.S. If you have a cranola flavor request, let me know in a comment below! I’m always up for a challenge.
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2½ cups rolled oats
- 6 Oreos (or similar cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies), lightly crushed
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt and mix until just combined. Then add the oats and crushed Oreos and stir with a wooden spoon. When the ingredients start to come together, use your hands to continue mixing until all the oats and Oreo pieces are covered with dough.
- Squeeze off chunks of dough and loosely break them apart over the baking sheet, creating large clumps.
- Bake the cranola for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 10 minutes, remove from the oven and stir gently. Bake for another 10 minutes until clumps are dry.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cranola cool completely. It will harden as it cools.
- Store cranola in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, if it lasts that long.
