These cranberry white chocolate cookies are an absolute delight! A soft cookie, with chewy edges combined with sweet white chocolate chunks and tart dried cranberries, a classic yet flavorful pairing.
About The Recipe
These cranberry white chocolate cookie are very simple to make and are made with ingredients that are probably in your pantry right now. They also store well, so you can always have them on hand.
Although these cookies are mostly made during the holidays, they can be enjoyed all year round! They’re soft, chewy, crispy, sweet and tart, all at the same time!
Difficulty: Easy
This recipe is perfect for beginners, it requires no tools and no special ingredients or techniques. Just mix all the ingredients together, chill the dough for a bit, then bake and enjoy!
What You Need To Make This Recipe
Butter: use softened butter or it will be hard to cream together with the sugars. Also use unsalted butter to avoid making salty cookies.
Egg: use a room temperature egg. The egg helps give the cookies structure.
Baking powder: this helps the cookie to rise a bit, creating a soft fluffy cookie.
Sugars: brown sugar gives the cookies their chewiness and adds a caramelized flavor, while white sugar helps the cookies spread.
Salt: helps balance the sweetness of the cranberry white chocolate cookies.
Dried Cranberries: avoid using fresh cranberries, they’ll add too much liquid to the batter.
White chocolate: I used a bar of white chocolate which I chopped into random chunks, you could also use white chocolate chips.
How To Make Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
Let’s go through the step by step process of making these cookies.
Step 1: Cream together the softened butter with the sugars using a spatula or hand or stand mixer. (a spatula works just as well)
Step 2: Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift in the dry ingredients and combine.
Step 3: Add in the white chocolate and dried cranberries.
Step 4: Cover and chill the dough for an hour.
Step 5: Using a cookie scoop (or spoon), scoop the chilled dough into balls and place on a lined baking tray with 2 inches of space between each ball. Bake for 12 -15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cool completely and then enjoy!
Storing The Cookies
Once baked allow the cookies to cool completely, then store in an air tight container at room temperature for 3-5 days.
Freezing The Cookie Dough/Cookies
For Cookie Dough: Scoop the cookie dough balls on to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze them for 2 hours. Transfer the frozen cookie dough balls into a zip lock bag and freeze for up to two months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a few hours and bake as usual.
For Baked Cookies: Store the baked cookies in a freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to two months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, thaw at room temperature.
Pro Tips
- Don’t overbake the cookies, when the cook time is over the cookies will look undone, that’s exactly how they should look. The cookies will finish cooking while they sit on the baking tray for a few minutes.
- Measure you flour correctly! Adding too much or too little flour will change the texture of the cookies dramatically. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off using the back of the spoon.
- Chill the dough! Chilling the cookie dough is mandatory in this recipe otherwise the cookies will spread way too much. You could also make the cookie dough ahead of time and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it (check FAQ below). Want a no chill cookie recipe? Try my no chill chocolate chunk cookies
- If you have a convection oven (oven with a fan setting) I recommend reducing the temperature by 20 degrees.
- Reserve some white chocolate and dries cranberries to press onto the to before or after baking for prettier cookies.
Check out my YouTube Channel for detailed recipe tutorials! Made one of my recipes? Tag me on Instagram, I would love to see your creations!
FAQ’s
Can I make These cookies ahead of time?
Yes, you can make the cookie dough 2-3 days ahead, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to use it. It might be a little hard when it comes out of the fridge, so let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to soften it up a bit. Then shape and bake them the same way.
Can I freeze the cookie dough/cookies?
Yes, these cranberry white chocolate cookies are freezer friendly, check the section above for instructions.
Recipe Card
Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
These cranberry white chocolate cookies are an absolute delight! A soft cookie, with chewy edges combined with sweet white chocolate chunks and tart dried cranberries, a classic yet flavorful pairing.
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Chill Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 min
Course: Drinks
Servings: 16 cookies
Calories: 231kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (113g)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar (134g)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (67g)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour, (250g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup white chocolate (chips/chopped bar)
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar using a spatula, hand or stand mixer until pale and creamy. (2-3 min)
- Add in the egg, and vanilla extract and mix until fully combined.
- Sift in the all purpose flour, baking powder an salt. Fold everything together until almost combined.
- Add in the dried cranberries and white chocolate (optional step: save some of both for the top of the cookies.)
- Fold together until fully combined, don’t overmix.
- Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop the cookie dough into ~15 balls and place on a parchment lined baking tray. Leave at least 2 inches between each cookie dough ball.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes.
- At 10 minutes remove the cookies from the oven and add on the dried cranberries and white chocolate you saved earlier. (if you didn’t save any, skip this step.)
- Let the cookies cool completely before removing from the baking tray.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 231.31kcal
Total Fat: 9.51g
Carbs: 34.65g
Sugars: 22.04g
Protein: 2.68g
Sodium: 120.51g
Fiber: 0.71g
** Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more. **
