These cranberry white chocolate cookies are soft and chewy with slightly golden edges. The combination of white chocolate and dried cranberries makes them perfect for Christmas
**This recipe was originally published November 2017. It was updated December 2020 with a slightly updated recipe, new photos and additional baking tips.**
These white chocolate cranberry cookies are an easy cookie recipe for Christmas. They’re soft and chewy with slightly crispy edges, and I personally love the combination of sweet white chocolate and tart cranberries for the holidays. t
Because who can resist a buttery, chewy, chocolate chip cookie?
Baking Tips
- Use real butter – not margarine. Because let’s face it, flavorful cookies require the real deal. For this recipe, your butter should be softened to room temperature but not melted. Melted butter vs softened butter vs cold butter performs differently.
- We’re using an extra egg yolk to make the cookies chewier (1 egg plus 1 egg yolk in total).
- Measure the flour carefully. Too much flour and the cookies can end up dry and too thick. When measuring flour use a weigh scale (I’ve included the weights) or whisk the flour then spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the top.
- This recipe requires you to chill the dough for at least 3 hours. This ensures that the cookies don’t spread too much and burn. I can’t guarantee results if the dough isn’t chilled.
- Use a cookie scoop for the easiest way to form the cookies into uniformly sized cookies.
- For that extra “eat-me” style appearance, take the cookies out of the oven when the tops look just set. Then place a few extra white chocolate chips on top of each cookie.
Make-Ahead Tips
You have a few options here.
- You can make the day up to 48 hours before you plan to bake the cookies. Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven and take the dough out of the fridge. It may need to warm up on the counter for 10-15 minutes before you’re able to form the dough into balls.
- You can form the dough into balls, place on a plate, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes for the dough to firm up. Then place the dough balls in a freezer bag (make sure to remove the excess air). The dough balls can be frozen for up to 2 months. Then bake the dough balls as directed in the recipe (from frozen), they’ll just need 1-2 minutes longer.
Easy, chewy, perfect for Christmas. And filled with chocolate chips – you’ll definitely want to add these cranberry white chocolate cookies to your holiday baking list. And if you’ve got some leftover cranberries, then be sure to try these cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies or my favorite cranberry Christmas cake.
Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed - or use ½ cup dark brown sugar and ½ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk discard the egg white
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour* measured correctly
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips plus more for dotting on top
- ¾ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed carefully beat in the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Mix in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 48 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and form the dough into balls with about 1.5 tablespoons of dough each (a little smaller than a golf ball in size, I like to use a cookie scoop for this). Place the dough on a cookie dough balls about 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets. If the dough is too hard to form into balls, let it sit on the counter at room temperature for 10-15 minutes first.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the tops look just set. Remove from the oven and optionally place a few extra chocolate chips on the top of each cookie.
Notes
- To measure flour correctly, whisk it first. Then spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the top. Or use a weigh scale - 2 cups of all-purpose flour weighs 250 grams or 8 ½ ounces. Do not scoop the flour out of the bag to measure it.
- After the dough is formed into balls, they can be placed in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 2 months. Then bake cookies from frozen as directed in the recipe above - they'll likely need 1-2 extra minutes. Do not thaw the dough before baking.
- Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Baked and cooled cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
- Nutrition information is an estimate only and based on 1 cookie, assuming the recipe yields 30 equal-sized cookies.
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