Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies — Bursting with texture and each bite is loaded with tart, chewy cranberries and sweet white chocolate! The perfect fall or holiday cookie recipe! 

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies 

It’s National Cookie Day and ’tis the season to bake cookies. Especially soft and chewy ones that are loaded with cranberries and white chocolate chips.

These cookies were inspired by a two recent recipes. First, from my love of the Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies I made a couple weeks ago. That dough is made using good old-fashioned simple ingredients. There’s nothing fancy, or specialty about it but the resulting cookies taste exceedingly special. Never under-estimate the power of butter and sugar.

Compared to the more recent Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies, which is my new favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the Sugar-Doodle dough is a bit sweeter and more delicate. I knew it would be the perfect dough base to support copious amounts of tart dried cranberries and sweet white chocolate morsels.

Additionally, I couldn’t get the Cranberry Bliss Bars out of my mind. They’re loaded with cranberries and oodles of white chocolate, baked in a soft and tender bar that’s a dead ringer for the Starbucks version. I have to resist the urge to go back for seconds, or thirds. It’s a good thing the batch size is only eight.

This recipe is an ode to Cranberry Bliss Bars, in cookie form.

There is nothing worse than an under-stuffed, under-loaded, under-sauced or just under-whelming dessert. If it’s a chocolate chip cookie, I use enough chocolate chips and also add chocolate chunks to ensure I know it’s a chocolate. Or I use chocolate five ways.

If it’s a piece of cake, I liberally glaze it, ganache it, or stud it with a wall-like layer of streusel topping. Live in abundance. And I abundantly used dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, and dough really couldn’t hold much more.

Living in abundance can be a double-edge sword and this is the season for it. Everywhere I turn there’s a holiday cookie tray, dessert platter with fudge on it, or another specialty holiday product for sale in the grocery store with a ‘limited time only’, heightening my urgency to have it now.

The nice thing about this dried cranberry cookies recipe is that it’s a smaller-batch recipe, yielding about 16 cookies, not dozens and dozens. Double the recipe if you need more abundance than I do.

The cookies have chewy edges and tender, soft, pillowy centers. They’re moist and are bursting with texture. Each bite is full of something chewy. Either a tart and wrinkly cranberry or sweet and smooth white chocolate. As the cookies bake, the white chocolate melts and meshes with the buttery dough in a scrumptious way.

A cross between a chewy sugar cookie, a fluffy snickerdoodle, and a Cranberry Bliss Bar, they’re the best of all worlds and a new holiday favorite.

What’s in White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies? 

To make these white chocolate dried cranberry cookies, you’ll need: 

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Light brown sugar
• Egg
• Cream or milk
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Bread flour 
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Dried cranberries 
• White chocolate chips 

How to Make White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies 

The dough comes together in minutes. Cream together butter, sugars, an egg, vanilla, a splash of cream or milk, then add the flour and mix-ins. I used a combination of both bread and all-purpose flours because bread flour produces chewier cookies and I love a good chew-fest.

In order to get maximum height and to ensure the cookies spread as little as possible while baking, the dough must be chilled prior to baking. You can make this dough up to 5 days in advance and allow it to remain in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake the cookies.

Bake one or two cranberry white chocolate chip cookies at a time, or make the whole batch at once.

Do I Have to Use Bread Flour? 

Exclusively using all-purpose is fine but the resulting cookies likely won’t be quite as chewy or have as much height. Bread flour also adds increased structure, height, and rise to baked goods, thanks to it’s higher gluten content. These sweet and golden cookies baked up tall and proud.

How to Store Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired. 

Tips for Making White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

You can make this recipe using plain dried cranberries, or I also love using the orange-scented ones from Trader Joe’s. 

If you don’t have white chocolate chips on hand, feel free to chop up a chocolate bar. 

And if you have more patience than I do, you could even drizzle white chocolate over these cookies or dunk half into a bowl of white chocolate. The cookies don’t need it, but I bet that would be delicious! 

Save Saved Review Print

4.60 from 5 votes

Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Averie Sunshine

Bursting with texture and each bite is loaded with tart, chewy cranberries and sweet white chocolate! The perfect holiday cookie recipe! 

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Chill Time: 3 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 16

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ cup bread flour, see notes below
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
• ▢ 1 cup dried cranberries
• ▢ 1 cup 8 ounces white chocolate chips

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Instructions 

• To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, cream, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
• Add the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and beat momentarily with the mixer until combined or fold in by hand. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days.
• Preheat oven to 350°F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat, parchment, or spray with cooking spray.
• Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop, form heaping mounds weighing 2 1/4-ounces each (weighed on a scale, which is approximately a scant 1/4-cup measure) and place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until pale golden and edges have just set, even if slightly undercooked in the center, as cookies will firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked for 9 minutes and have chewy edges with soft pillowy centers. For crunchier cookies, extend baking time by 1 to 2 minutes).
• Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing.

Notes

Notes regarding the flour: Solely using all-purpose flour will work as well, but the cookies will not be as chewy or rise as well because bread flour creates chewier results and gives greater rise. Also, I live in a dry climate and only need 1 3/4 cups flour total but if you are in more humidity or your dough is very moist or loose, adding up to 1/4 cup of additional flour, for 2 cups total, is possible. The more flour, the more the cookies will stay domed and puffed while baking.

Storage: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Inspired by Sugar-Doodle Vanilla Cookies and Cranberry Bliss Bars.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 212kcal, Carbohydrates: 33g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Sodium: 128mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 21g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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More Cranberry Desserts: 

Cranberry Bliss Bars {Starbucks Copycat Recipe} — The flavor in the Bliss Bars is very similar to the cookies, but they are more loaded and decadent!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Bliss Cake — This fast, easy, no-mixer cake is light, soft, fluffy, and moist. It’s springy and bouncey, with just enough density to give it some heft and dimension.

Cranberry Bliss Seven Layer Bars — A buttery graham cracker crust, topped with white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, walnuts, dried cranberries, coconut, and sweetened condensed milk! 

Crustless Cranberry Pie —A FAST, super EASY, no-mixer dessert that’s perfect for holiday entertaining!! Somewhere in between pie, cake, and blondies is what you get with this FESTIVE recipe! Take advantage of those fresh cranberries!!

Cranberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars — The bars are soft, slightly chewy, and the hearty oats with big crumbles are a perfect contrast to the juicy cranberry filling.

Cranberry Orange Bread— The fresh cranberries in this cranberry orange bread contrast nicely with the sweet orange glaze, making it the perfect blend of sweet and tart!

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Blondies — The soft, buttery, caramely, brown sugary, blondie base is the perfect complement to the chewy, tart cranberries.