Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies — Super soft, buttery, and a holiday baking must-make!! Very popular at cookie exchanges and everyone will want the recipe! So good!!
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Easy Cookies with White Chocolate and Cranberries
Anything with cranberries and white chocolate is automatically awesome for me, so it’s no wonder I love these super soft, buttery cookies with tender, pillowy centers.
They have slightly chewy edges and are bursting with texture in every bite between the chewy and tart-yet-sweet dried cranberries and the sweet white chocolate chips.
White chocolate chip cranberry cookies are perfect for holiday cookie exchanges because everyone seems to love them. They’re what I’m making for an upcoming cookie exchange I’m a part of.
I’m going to wrap the baked white chocolate cranberry chip cookies up in Glad Cling Wrap Plastic Wrap that I bought at Walmart, pass them out, but also stash a few just for myself.
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make the dried cranberry white chocolate chip cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Cream
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Dried cranberries
- White chocolate chips
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
This white chocolate cranberry chip cookie recipe is so simple to make! Here’s an overview of the recipe:
- Cream together the butter and sugars before adding in the egg and vanilla.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet just until combined, then gently fold in the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
- Form the dough balls, cover with Glad Cling Wrap Plastic Wrap, and chill for at least 3 hours.
- Once the dough has been chilled, you’ll want to bake the cookies just until the edges have set and the tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center.
Make-Ahead Tip
You can chill the dough for up to 5 days and just bake off as many as you need when you’re ready.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, the dough is very soft and must be chilled before baking. There are 2 tablespoons of cream in the dough, which makes the cookies so creamy but also makes for a very soft dough.
No, I don’t think so. Fresh cranberries would release lots of moisture into the cookie dough, and since this is a very soft dough to begin with I don’t think using fresh berries is a good idea.
Yes! The unbaked cookie dough can be frozen and baked off later, so consider making a big batch of cookie dough and freezing it for the future.
Recipe Variations to Try
This cranberry white chocolate chip cookie recipe is easy to customize with additional mix-ins or by swapping around some of the ingredients. Here are some of my favorite variations of this easy cookie recipe:
- Add orange zest: To add a slight orange flavor to these cookies, add 1 teaspoon orange zest to the cookie dough.
- Use flavored dried cranberries: I used Trader Joe’s orange-scented cranberries to add orange flavor to the dough, but if you don’t have one near you I know Ocean Spray and many other brands make some as well.
- Use a different dried fruit: These cookies can be made with pretty much any dried fruit! Any larger pieces of dried fruit will need to be chopped finely before adding to the dough.
- Swap out the white chocolate chips: For a different flavor profile, you can replace the white chocolate chips with semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate chips.
- Add nuts: Chopped walnuts or pecans would pair nicely with the white chocolate and dried cranberries. Feel free to add in some nuts, noting that you can only use 2 cups of mix-ins total with this recipe!
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Soft and Chewy Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup dried cranberries, I use orange-scented dried cranberries and recommend them for extra flavor
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric mixer), add the butter, sugars, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the cream, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 1 minute. The batter may look a little ‘grainy’ and almost as if it’s separated, this is okay.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop or your hands, form approximately 17 equal-sized mounds of dough. The dough is very soft and I find it easiest to use a cookie scoop. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading. Tip – Strategically place a few cranberries and white chocolate chips on top of each mound of dough by taking cranberries and chips from the underside and adding them on top.
- After chilling, flatten each mound about half the original height.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Dried Cranberry Desserts:
Cranberry Bliss Bars {Starbucks Copycat Recipe} – They taste just like the real thing and you can make them at home, year-round! Think of all the $ you’ll save. Spot-on, easy recipe!
Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cake – The flavors of Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars in a soft, easy, no-mixer cake!
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Blondies – Super soft, buttery bars packed with chewy cranberries! And there’s a chocolate overload in every bite!
Cranberry Bliss Seven Layer Bars — A marriage of the famous Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars with Seven Layer Bars!! White chocolate, cranberries, coconut, and so good! Fast and super easy!!
The Easiest Foolproof Fudge Recipe — Look no further than this recipe for the EASIEST and most FOOLPROOF fudge that takes less than 3 minutes to make!! Customize it with your favorite add-ins like cranberries and walnuts! Great for gifts and cookie exchanges!!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Glad & Hidden Valley Ranch. The opinions and text are all mine.
Mine came out like scones. Am not too disappointed. They taste amazing, but the dough didn’t spread out at all. Just little round scones…lol. How do I fix the next batch?
Mine came out like scones. Am not too disappointed. They taste amazing, but the dough didn’t spread out at all. Just little round scones…lol. How do I fix the next batch?
What you described is a classic telltale sign that the dough was overfloured. You need to use a lighter hand when measuring your flour, don’t pack it in, to ensure you’re not accidentally adding too much. Too much flour makes the dough hard and resistant to spreading during baking. I am glad they tasted amazing and thanks for the 5 star review! Next time just use less flour and you will be set.
Could I add whole rolled oats to these cookies? If so, how much would you say I should add and would I omit some flour to make up for it?
I’m sure you could add them but off the cuff, I can’t say how much to add and by how much to reduce the flour.
You could make this recipe and just add cranberries and sub white for regular chocolate chips. https://www.averiecooks.com/the-best-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Very good! I replaced cranberries with macademia they turned out so good!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they worked out great for you with the mac nuts!
Very good! I replaced cranberries with macademia they turned out so good!
Hi,
I was comparing the older version of this recipe and am just wondering why you switched to all-purpose flour instead of both all-purpose and bread flour
Thanks!
Because not everyone wants to buy two types of flour so I made it with one kind.
This is the second time I made these cookies, they are delicious!
Thanks for letting me know you love the cookies and have made them twice!
We love your Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and they turn out perfect every time! I made these last night and the dough was very soft and sticky. It definitely did not look grainy or separated in the step you mentioned above. Any helpful hints? I went ahead and refrigerated them and will try to bake them today. Thank you so much!
This is a very soft dough from the addition of the cream. I wouldn’t be too alarmed that they were very soft and sticky going into the chilling process. I think they will bake up fine. However in the future if you feel like a dough is just too soft to the point it’s hard to work with, then I would say add a couple tablespoons of additional flour. All ingredients, climates, etc. vary and baking is not always the same from person to person.
Appreciate the recipe, however mine where very flat. I did not push them down at all? To be fair I have similar issues with the basic Nestle Chocolate Chip recipe. I wonder if the humidity here in NC is part of my issue.
I get great results with recipes with higher flour ratios. I am going to attempt again with more flour. Thanks
Flour, and the type used, make a huge different. I have a cookie baking success tips post here https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html Switch to King Arthur flour, highly recommended. Use a Silpat, follow my other tips, and you won’t have flat cookies!
I just have regular dried cranberries. Do you think I could add orange zest to give it some orange flavor? And if so, any idea how much?
Regular dried cranberries are just fine. If you want, about 1 tsp of orange zest is what I would use.
This recipe is awesome! People love them! Thanks for some more delicious cookies!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
Averie, I love the Cranberry White Choc Chip Cookies (though I used dried cherries since I was out of dried cranberries)! I live quite a distance from Trader Joe’s so these cookies remind me of what I might expect to buy there (well maybe even better than I might find there :o). I have never been disappointed in any of the recipes that you post! Thank you and please keep it up! Delicious but simply to prepare recipes! WooHoo!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Thanks for the compliments on all my recipes!
I love this recipe. All time favorite cookie.
I need a good cookie bar for a potluck. Wonder if this would work?
These bars are amazing and use the same flavors. https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/11/cranberry-bliss-bars.html They’re a bit more labor intensive than say https://www.averiecooks.com/2015/11/cranberry-bliss-seven-layer-bars.html or https://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/cranberry-chocolate-chip-blondies.html
All use cranberries and chocolate (sub with white chocolate as desired). I haven’t tried the cookie recipe baked as a cookie-bar so not sure how it will come out whereas the others I’ve tried with success.
Thank you! I made the Bliss Bars with white chocolate. They look really good. I think the teachers will love it for their Super Bowl party.
I just made these today. They came out exactly as was promised in the recipe – just scrumptious! It is a perfect holiday cookie that might just become a new staple in our family! Thank you Averie!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad they’ll be a new staple!