These cranberry white chocolate cookies are the perfect sweet treat for the holiday season. Soft, chewy cookies are loaded with sweet and tangy Craisins, rich white chocolate chips, and crunchy chopped pecans for an explosion of flavor and texture in every bite!
Cookies are one of those desserts that seem to be at home at any event. From weeknight dinners to special occasions like baby showers, you’ll always find cookies on the table. We love making cookies for any reason whatsoever, but when the holiday season rolls around, we really kick our cookie production into high gear.
There are just so many things you can add to a simple dough to create all kinds of tasty holiday flavors. These cranberry white chocolate cookies are a perfect example of that. It only takes three mix-ins to create a hand-held treat that’s perfect for the fall season, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Of course, you can make them any time of year, too!
Why You’ll Love These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Basic Ingredients: This recipe uses simple baking staples, so it’s easy to gather up everything you need.
- Easy: These cookies use a simple dough and three common mix-ins, so they’re incredibly easy to make.
- Soft and Chewy: These cookies are so soft and chewy!
- Holiday Flavor: The combination of white chocolate chips, Craisins, and chopped pecans create a classic holiday flavor profile.
Ingredients
- Brown and White Sugar: Both brown and white sugar are used in these cookies to give them plenty of sweetness. The brown sugar also helps keep the cookies moist.
- Eggs: Eggs add fat moisture, making the cookies softer and chewier. They also bind the other ingredients together.
- Craisins: Craisins add sweet and tangy cranberry flavor to the cookies.
- White Chocolate Chips: White chocolate chips are buttery and mellow, making them the perfect complement to the Craisins.
- Chopped Pecans: Pecans add a deep, earthy flavor and crunch to the cookies.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact amounts.
Flavor Variations
- Nuts: Try your favorite nuts in these cookies. They all work and create a slightly different flavor.
- Craisins: Any brand of sweetened, dried cranberries will work.
- Chocolate Chips: Easily change the flavor of these cookies by using white, milk, semi-sweet, or even dark chocolate chips.
How to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
1: Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Then, add the eggs and mix again.
2: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.
3: Stir in the white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and pecans.
4: Use a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop to drop rounded cookie dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart.
5: Bake until the edges start to brown. Then, immediately remove them from the oven.
6: Let the cookies cook for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hint
Mix your cookie dough until the ingredients are just combined. Overmixing will make the cookies tough and dense.
Storage
Store your cookies at room temperature for up to a week in an air-tight container. For longer storage, wrap the cookies individually in plastic wrap and freeze them in an air-tight, freezer-safe container or heavy-duty freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Defrost the cookies on the counter and serve.
What to Serve with Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies are always great with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee or tea. The flavors in these cookies also make them perfect for serving with some fresh fruit and a bit of chocolate. Of course, they make an excellent addition to any holiday dessert table alongside other favorites like Christmas toffee, Christmas muddy buddies, or mini pumpkin cheesecakes.
Tips
- Fully soften your butter for the easiest creaming and best cookie texture.
- Loosely spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a knife. This prevents packing the flour into the measuring cup and using too much.
- Mix the cookie dough until just combined. Overmixing will make the cookies denser and tough.
- It’s important to remove the cookies AS SOON as the edges begin to brown. The carryover cooking time of the hot baking sheet will finish them perfectly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Just mixed is a term you’ll find often in baking recipes. This term means that the wet and dry ingredients until everything is incorporated, and all the dry ingredients are moistened. Your batter will most likely be lumpy, but that’s okay!
When flour is mixed with other ingredients a certain protein in it called gluten is activated. Overmixing the dough creates excess gluten. This gluten contracts as the baked goods cook, creating a tough, dense final product. Less mixing creates less gluten and a softer outcome.
Adding more fat and moisture will make cookies chewier and softer. So adding more eggs, butter, or light corn syrup will all work. In addition, removing the cookies a few minutes before they’re done and allowing the carryover heat from the baking sheet to finish them off results in fully baked cookies that are soft and chewy.
Never scoop your flour out directly with your measuring cup. This compacts the flour, and you end up using too much. Instead, loosely spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a knife.
Try These Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
With soft, chewy cookie dough, sweet and tangy Craisins, buttery, smooth white chocolate, and crunchy chopped pecans, these cookies are loaded with fall flavor in every bite. They’re the perfect cookies for serving all fall and summer long, and they’re particularly great for the holiday season. Give them a try, and we know you’ll love them just as much as we do!
More Delicious Cranberry Recipes You’ll Enjoy
If you try this recipe and love it, please be sure to leave a 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and comment! You can also pin it to save it for later. Also, you can follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Remember to “like” or “follow” us on all social media.
Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups dried cranberries, I used Craisins
- 2 cups white chocolate chips
- 2 cups pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla together until combined.
- Add eggs and mix until incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together.
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat until combined.
- Stir in white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and pecans.
- Drop by rounded 1 ½ teaspoons on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I used a 1 ½ inch cookie scoop)
- Bake for 8 – 9 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
- Remove from the oven. Let sit on the baking sheet for a couple minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
- Fully soften your butter for the easiest creaming and best cookie texture.
- Loosely spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level it off with a knife. This prevents packing the flour into the measuring cup and using too much.
- Mix the cookie dough until just combined. Overmixing will make the cookies denser and tough.
- It’s important to remove the cookies AS SOON as the edges begin to brown. The carryover cooking time of the hot baking sheet will finish them perfectly.
