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.
I made these Saturday. I only baked 8 and froze the rest. I chilled the dough 3.5 hours before I baked them. Mine were thinner than yours. My husband and our oldest son loved them but I like a thick cookie. I am hoping the next ones will be thicker. Maybe I pressed down too much on them. I only had regular cranberries so I added orange zest. I looked today at Kroger and couldn’t find the orange cranberries.
I get my orange-cranberries at Trader Joe’s but I’ve seen that Ocean Spray sells some and there are also others too depending on if you go to an organic/specialty type of grocery store. But your orange zest idea sounds great!
Regarding the thinness, maybe you pushed down too much. And also see this post for all my cookie making tips for success! The brand of flour, Silpat, etc. https://www.averiecooks.com/the-best-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Hi Averie
What brand of orange scented cranberries did you use in this recipe.
Usually I use Trader Joe’s but if you don’t have one near you, I know Ocean-Spray and many other brands make some. Enjoy!
I just went to a cookie exchange. I wish I had these with me. I love cranberries in cookies. This looks like the perfect holiday cookie.
Soft and chewy is exactly how all cookies should be. These look like the best textured cookies ever! I’d eat the whole batch if I wasn’t careful.
They are in my top 5 cookies of all time. As in yes, I need to be really careful, too! :)
I did this recipe yesterday and was extremely delighted. My cookies didn’t look as good as yours, but I bet they were at least as tasty. Mixing cranberries and white chocolate is genius. Thanks for sharing this Averie. Keep rockin’ girl :)
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you!
These look so good! Anything cranberry and white chocolate is win on my book :) ?
These look so tasty. I need to make these ASAP.
Averie you never fail to impress with your cookie baking skills!
Darn it, Averie, stop with the cranberry recipes! I just decided to try your cranberry bliss 7 layer bars next week as a new part of my Christmas cookie repertoire and here you are, throwing another option at me! I think I’ll go with the 7 layer bars cuz they look faster to throw together, which has a lot of appeal for me … maybe I’ll make these as “new year cookies”!
Those bars are extremely FAST to whip together, like 5 minutes fast! You’ll love them! And then make these :) They’re one of my all-time top 5 cookies!
I would love to get a batch of these in a Holiday cookie exchange!! And then enjoy them with a big glass of milk :)
We should totally do a holiday cookie exchange! That would be so much fun! And after the milk, break out the holiday bubbly :)
I love your recipes. I know that if I make anything from your blog it’s going to turn out fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
What a nice thing to say – thank you!
I’ve been making these since Averie posted them 3 years ago. They are my family’s all time favorite cookie (I bake weekly)!
They turn out wonderful every time. A must for this holiday season!
Wow that is amazing that you’ve been making them for 3 years and they’re your family’s all time favorite cookie! I seriously love these cookies so much, too! They are definitely in my top 5 of all time for sure too! Thanks for your support and baking these cookies over and over!
Cranberry white chocolate cookies are one of my holiday favorites! They are always so pretty and festive without having to do any further decorating once they are out of the oven. The orange scented cranberries are a nice touch too for something a little different.
I love those orange scented cranberries because they just perfume the dough with an extra special touch!
I absolutely love this combination :) these look fantastic!
These look perfect! I think a test run in in order.
I’m curious, when you say soft, are they soft as in they will break/crumble? I’d love to include these in my christmas cookie tins if you think they’ll hold up.
Soft as in buttery soft, bend-able kind of softness, not crumbly in the least!
If you love these that much, not only am I making them, but I’m ordering you to make them in the summer if you want them. Gotta follow the love, Averie! They do look so pillowy soft!
They’re seriously one of my fave cookies EVER!
sorry what do you mean with cream? double cream?whiiping?heavy?single? so many types of cream!
Regular cream, does not have to be heavy or whipping cream. Or half-and-half is fine. That is what I use since I don’t tend to keep cream around.
Cake flour, no. Use AP flour.
also is cake flour ok to use?