One of our favorite lunch spots is Jason's Deli, which we occasionally indulge in when we go to one of our favorite stores: Sunflower Farmers Market. When we're at Jason's, I always get a chocolate chip cookie and my husband always gets a cranberry-walnut cookie with our meals because their cookies are just so damn good. (The rest of the food is great too!)
When he found dried cranberries at Winco in the bulk food section (love), he asked me to make him a batch. Now, one thing you should know about my husband is that he's crazy for whole wheat. I changed out all-purpose for whole wheat in my chocolate chip cookies and made him a very happy man, so I knew that whatever recipe I wound up using needed to use whole wheat too.
In the end, I took one I particularly liked for inspiration and played around. I think they came out pretty darn good -- and I'm not even that particularly crazy about oatmeal cookies! These aren't spreaders, they bake up soft, puffy and chewy with just a hint of spice.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, mix until fluffy. Add milk, vanilla extract, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix well. Add flour slowly, mixing thoroughly. Stir in walnuts, oats and cranberries.
Form dough into small balls and place 2" apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool 3 - 4 minutes on the pan, then remove to a rack to cool completely.