Soft and Chewy White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly soft, chewy, thick, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for your holiday cookie tray!
Christmas is just around the corner and it’s one of my favorite times of year because of all the candy, fudge, and cookies. So today I’m kicking off the holiday baking with these easy white chocolate cranberry cookies.
The base of this cookie dough is the same one that I’ve used for other cookie recipes and it never fails. These cookies bake up perfectly everytime and stay soft and chewy for days. You could even mix some chopped pecans or pistachios into this cookie dough too.
Plus, how festive are these cookies studded with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips? They would be the perfect addition to your holiday cookie tray!
How To Make White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
These cookies are as simple as mixing up your wet and dry ingredients separately, combining the two, and then add your mix-ins. Let’s break down the ingredients for these easy cookies:
- Butter: I always use unsalted butter in my cookie recipes because the amount of salt in salted butter can vary quite a bit between brands. If you only have salted butter on hand, just reduce the salt in the recipe from 1 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon.
- Sugar: I use a mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar in all of my cookie recipes. Brown sugar provides moisture to the cookie dough and makes the cookies chewier too!
- Eggs & Vanilla extract: You’ll need 2 large room temperature eggs for this recipe and some pure vanilla extract (vanilla bean paste would be fantastic too!).
- Dry Ingredients: The dry ingredients are just a simple mixture of all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. One important thing when it comes to the flour is to make sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and then level it off with the back of a knife. You can find my post explaining how to spoon and level flour here.
- Cranberries & White Chocolate Chips: I used sweetened dried cranberries and white chocolate chips in these cookies. I love to reserve some of the dried cranberries and white chocolate chips and press them into the top of the cookies after they come out of the oven. Feel free to chop up your favorite nut and mix some in too!
Another important thing, it’s best to chill your cookie dough. Why? If your butter is too warm when the cookies go into the oven the cookies will spread like crazy. By chilling the cookie dough, the butter will be cold and the cookies will bake up much thicker.
I find that two hours is the perfect amount of time to get the dough thoroughly chilled so the cookies don’t spread too much. You can even prep the cookie dough the day before and then just bake the cookies the next day.
Want perfectly round cookies? Once the cookies come out of the oven, I like to use a spoon to shape my cookies and make them nice and round. You want to do this step as soon as they come out of the oven since the cookies are warm and they will be much easier to shape!
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it from the container. Instead, stir the flour around, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Make sure to chill the cookie dough for at least 2 hours. This will help prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
- This recipe will make about 4 dozen cookies, so I suggest baking the cookies in separate batches. Make sure to refrigerate the balls of cookie dough until you’re ready to bake them.
Soft and Chewy White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (345 gram) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup (200 grams) light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270 grams) white chocolate chips
- 1 cup (145 grams) sweetened dried cranberries
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, mix the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. Mix in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients and continue mixing until just combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Then mix in the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries until thoroughly combined.
- Cover the cookie dough tightly and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Once the dough is almost chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough and drop onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure to leave a little room between each ball of cookie dough as they will spread a little while they bake.
- Bake in separate batches at 350°F (180°C) for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned and the top is set. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
I tried this recipe over the weekend and it’s amazing! I had a very specific craving for these cookies and this was the most appealing recipe to me based on how easy it seemed to be. I used margarine instead of butter, so the texture was a little more like a soft oatcake, which I still love! I made them a bit thicker too because I only had one large pan and a smaller pan to work with. It’s a simple and customizable recipe that I recommend and thank you for sharing it!
? my cookies keep looking like pancakes . What did I do wrong ? Lol the cookie taste amazing but they’re FLAT like a piece of paper
Hi, Tia! This can happen if there’s not enough flour in the cookie dough or the butter is too warm. Did you make sure to measure the flour correctly? If so, try chilling the cookie dough longer (about 2 hours) and that should help.
This kept happening to me on other recipes, making sure your baking soda is not expired
I just made these cookies for the first time and I am so happy I found this recipe. Excellent balance of flavor. I will be bringing these to Thanksgiving dinner next week!
This cookies are amazing! The only thing wrong about them is that they are gone too soon ?
Possibly a dumb question but can you chill this overnight?
Yes, that’s fine! If it’s too hard to scoop, you can let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.
I always scoop my cookies as soon as I mix the dough and put them on a cooking tray. Then I freeze them. Bake them as I need them. They come out thick and chewy! Delicious!!!
Is it possible to prepare the cookie into balls prior to chilling? I think it maybe easier this way
Yes, you can scoop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes before baking.
Hi there! I am wondering if I were to use whole wheat flour instead, what would the measurements be?
Thank you so much! I can’t wait to make these cookies =)
Hi, Elizabeth! I actually recommend sticking with all-purpose for these cookies. You could probably use whole wheat flour, but it absorbs more moisture than all-purpose. You may need to either reduce the flour by a few tablespoons or only substitute half of the flour for whole wheat flour.
Hi! What do you think about adding nuts to this? maybe unsalted pistachios (for nice green color) or sliced almonds, thanks!
That would be fine! I would reduce the white chocolate chips to 1 cup and add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts.
I want to make these this weekend and was wondering if I want the cookies to be large, could I just double the cooking time? Is there a reason to not do that?
You can make them larger and just increase the baking time. You may not need to double it though. I would just keep an eye on them, you’ll know they’re done when the tops are set and the edges are lightly browned.
HELP!!! First time making them. The dough was really stiff, somewhat crumbly, and not very moist. After refrigerating the dough about 3 hours it was very difficult to scoop with the cookie scoop; I had to sorta press the dough into the scoop. When they came out of the oven they hadn’t really flattened/spread out at all – they were still shaped like the scoop. What did I do wrong?
Sorry you’re having trouble with the recipe, Janine. The dough shouldn’t be crumbly. Did you make sure to spoon and level your flour?
Is the dough suppose to be thick?
It will be thicker than chocolate chip cookie dough, but you should be able to easily scoop it.
Excellent cookies! I followed the recipe exactly except substituted dried cherries instead of cranberries. This recipe is a keeper! I look forward to making them again with the cranberries.
Can you use fresh cranberries instead?
You probably can, but keep in mind that fresh cranberries won’t mix as well into the cookie dough and they have quite a bit of moisture in them. I do recommend using dried cranberries for best results.
Holiday go to. Clients love them if I hide them from my family.
I followed all the instructions, but my cookies were so hollow inside and the texture is like a bread although it tasted good. I’m so disappointed with the outcome. I made 3 dozens that I ended up giving to a food pantry.
Sorry you had trouble with the recipe, Linda. I’ve made these cookies dozens of times and never had that happen. Did you make any adjustments? And did you make sure to spoon and level your flour?
I just wanted to drop a note on how much I LOVE this recipe! I have made these cookies for Christmas for the last 3 years and they come out perfect every time. Truly a crowd pleaser! YUMM!
Thank you, Karen! I’m glad you love them!
I have made this recipe twice…and the second go-roumd was better. How can I get a more uniform mixture? The dough seems very tough to mix when adding the chips and berries. Also, once chilled, the dough is so hard and my first try broke my scoop ? Any words of wisdom?
Any nutrition info available?
The dough is a little thick, are you making sure to spoon and level your flour too? If it’s easier, you can scoop the cookie dough onto baking sheets first, refrigerate for 30 minutes, then bake. I’m not sure about the nutritional information, but you can plug everything into an online calculator to get an estimate.
One of my favorite summertime cookies to bake. Occasionally, I add copped macadamia nuts.
Thanks for this recipe, And all your suggestions. They’re Yummy!!
Amazingly soft biscuits! We loved them!
This is my go to recipe for amazing tasty cookies! Thank you so much , everyone in my house loves them
when baking the cookies do you bake on regular bake or conventional bake
I use a conventional oven, not convection.
Very good! A tad sweet for me but delicious soft cookie overall
Awesome thank you
I made the recipe (almost) exactly, except dumped the whole bag (312g) of white chocolate chips instead of only 270 grams. It was way too many chips! And I have a habit using a little more flour to make the cookies fluffier. I think she has already accounted for this and I could have used exactly the flour she called for. I will have to try again following the recipe. Cookies were still delicious!
I made these cookies for the first time. They came out good but they never spread much. I chilled the dough and used parchment paper. Maybe it was the parchment paper. I was hoping they d flatten a little like a choc. chip cookie. My husband loves them and ask if I would add nuts next time I make them. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I LOVE these cookies! I always make a batch of the dough, scoop them onto a cookie sheet and freeze them so I can just bake one or two at a time and they last for months. These are hands down my favorite cookies.
Very tasty. I followed the recipe exactly but took out some dough to add toasted walnuts. Delicious! I wish I could have added them to all the batter but my granddaughter is allergic but the cookies are very good even without the nuts
This has been a go to recipe of mine. Everywhere I take it people love it! I use a mix of cranberry, almonds and cashew nuts with the chic chip and they’re soooo good!!
How many cookies will this recipe yield? Also, how many days in advance can I make them before they are baked?
It makes 4 dozen cookies. You can make the cookie dough and refrigerate it for up to 3 days before baking.
Absolutely delicious! I highly recommend these