These white chocolate cranberry cookies are rich, buttery, and just full of flavor. Included in this post are ways to adjust the sweetness as well as the fillings to your tastes!
I made these for some family and friends last week, and they said these are the best cookies I’ve ever made. Honestly, I kind of agree with them. I know white chocolate cranberry cookies are a staple in December when Christmas cookie season is at its peak, but I just had all the ingredients lying around in my kitchen so I just whipped up a batch. The flavor of these cookies is out of this world. I love the combination of sweet white chocolate and tart cranberries together. I also threw in some chopped pecans for texture.
Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments
- All purpose flour – The main dry ingredient in these cookies.
- Baking soda – Baking soda helps create a soft, fluffy cookie.
- Salt – Salt helps balance out the sweetness from the sugars.
- Unsalted butter – Adds a nutty flavor to these cookies. As mentioned in the tips below, browning this butter amplifies the nutty flavor of the butter.
- Dark brown and granulated sugar – Typically I use a combination of light and dark brown sugar, but I wanted to see how these will taste with just dark brown sugar. And obviously, I loved it. I will note however that dark brown sugar is slightly sweeter than light brown sugar, so if you want a cookie that is less sweet use only light brown sugar. You can also choose to use a combination of dark brown and light brown sugar. If you choose to use a combination or only light brown sugar, reduce the amount of all purpose flour by 1 tablespoon.
- Egg – Makes the cookies richer and chewier.
- Vanilla extract – Adds flavor to the cookies. Substitute with an equal amount of vanilla paste or 1 vanilla bean.
- White chocolate chips – I used white chocolate chips for these cookies, but you can also use a 4 oz white chocolate bar cut into small pieces.
- Pecans and cranberry raisins – I love the texture and tartness of these ingredients. If you don’t like one or the other, don’t include them.
How to make white chocolate cranberry cookies
Brown the butter. Heat butter over medium heat until it fully melts. Lower the heat to medium low and let it cook until golden brown and brown bits start to appear at the bottom of the pan. Pour butter into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Let it cool for 10 minutes. If it’s too hot when you use it, your cookie dough will be greasy.
Add flour, baking soda, and salt to a bowl and set aside. Once the butter has cooled, add granulated sugar and dark brown sugar to the bowl with the browned butter. Mix until combined.
Add the egg and mix until a smooth, brown texture. See image above for reference. Add vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients from step 2 and gently fold into the wet ingredients. Be careful not to overmix. I would stop when there’s a little bit of flour left because you will need to mix in the chocolate chips.
Add the chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberry raisins, and mix until incorporated. Let the cookie dough rest in the fridge for 1 hour. You need to let the butter get cold enough so the butter won’t melt too fast which will create flat cookies.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Prepare 2 baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper. Use a 2 tablespoon (medium sized) cookie scoop to scoop your cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Make sure there are 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are light brown. Rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then another 10 minutes on the cooling rack before serving.
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies Video
Tips on how to make the perfect white chocolate cranberry cookies
Ingredient Tips
- Use all room temperature ingredients. This really does matter because butter and eggs don’t like to mix together, especially when they’re at different temperatures, so having them at the same temperature helps them come together better.
- Why are you using brown butter? This is one of the keys to the intense flavor of these cookies. The brown bits add so much extra flavor to the dough. Make sure to cool it down to room temperature before using because using hot butter will create for a greasy dough.
- Adjusting the ratio of white chocolate, pecans, and cranberry raisins. You can play with the ratio of white chocolate to pecans to cranberry raisins, but the total measurement of all 3 should be 1 cup. So you can have 1/3 cup of each or 1/2 cup cranberries, 1/4 cup white chocolate, and 1/4 cup of pecans.
Method Tips
- Mix the butter, sugars, and egg thoroughly. The biggest mistake people make is not mixing the wet ingredients properly. When you mix the wet ingredients, especially the butter and sugar, you’re really trying to incorporate/dissolve the sugar.
- Don’t over mix the cookie dough after adding the dry ingredients. You want to mix the dry ingredients as little as possible because mixing encourages gluten formation which creates tough, chalky cookies. I like to mix the dough until there is a little bit of flour not incorporated into the dough. I then add the chocolate chips and finish mixing the dough.
- Why do I need to rest this dough so long? Resting/cooling the cookie dough allows the butter to solidify, so it doesn’t melt so quickly in the oven. This matters because if it melts too quickly in the oven, your cookies will spread more, creating flatter cookies. In addition, allowing it to rest makes it more flavorful. The cookie dough is sort of like marinating while it’s cooling.
- How do I make my cookies flat? How do I make them more chunky? This will depend on how much time you allow the dough to rest in the fridge. The more you chill the dough in the fridge, the chunkier the cookie will be. If you don’t chill the dough at all, the cookie will be very flat.
- Why is scooping your cookie dough with a scoop important? This is important because the scoop helps give your cookies their round shape. To get the perfect round shape, scoop the dough, press it into the scoop with your hand, and then level it off so you get a flat bottom.
- Why is cooling your cookies important? I know it is SO HARD to not eat a cookie right away, but your cookies are still baking when they’re on the baking sheet! The center will still look soft but it will slowly get firmer as it sits on the baking sheet.
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Chewy White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar see note 1
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup white chocolate chips see note 2
- ¼ cup pecans chopped
- ¼ cup cranberry raisins craisins
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Heat butter over medium heat until it fully melts. Lower the heat to medium low and let it cook until golden brown and brown bits start to appear at the bottom of the pan. Pour butter into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Let it cool for 10 minutes. If it’s too hot when you use it, your cookie dough will be greasy.
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt to a bowl and set aside.
- Once the butter has cooled, add granulated sugar and dark brown sugar to the bowl with the browned butter. Mix until combined.
- Add the egg and mix until a smooth, brown texture. See image above for reference.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients from step 2 and gently fold into the wet ingredients. Be careful not to overmix. I would stop when there’s a little bit of flour left because you will need to mix in the other ingredients.
- Add the chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberry raisins, and mix until incorporated.
- Let the cookie dough rest in the fridge for 1 hour. You need to let the butter get cold enough, so the butter won’t melt too fast which will create flat cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
- Prepare 2 baking sheets by covering them with parchment paper.
- Use a 2 tablespoon (medium sized) cookie scoop to scoop your cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Make sure there are 2 inches of space between each cookie.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are light brown.
- Rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then another 10 minutes on the cooling rack before serving.
Video
Notes
- Typically I use a combination of light and dark brown sugar, but I wanted to see how these will taste with just dark brown sugar. And obviously, I loved it. I will note however that dark brown sugar is slightly sweeter than light brown sugar, so if you want a cookie that is less sweet use only light brown sugar. You can also choose to use a combination of dark brown and light brown sugar. If you choose to use a combination or only light brown sugar, reduce the amount of all purpose flour by 1 tablespoon.
- Adjusting the ratio of white chocolate, pecans, and cranberry raisins. You can play with the ratio of white chocolate to pecans to cranberry raisins, but the total measurement of all 3 should be 1 cup. So you can have 1/3 cup of each or 1/2 cup cranberries, 1/4 cup white chocolate, and 1/4 cup of pecans.
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by Becca Du