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!

These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, 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!

These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for 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!

 

These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for your holiday cookie tray!

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!

These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for your holiday cookie tray!

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.
These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for your holiday cookie tray!

Soft and Chewy White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

4.88 from 32 ratings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are incredibly thick, soft, chewy, and full of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Perfect for your holiday cookie tray!

Ingredients

Servings: 4 dozen cookies
  • 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.

Notes

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.
Freezing Instructions: Cookie dough balls may be frozen for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen for an additional 1-2 minutes. Baked cookies will also freeze well for up to 3 months, thaw to room temperature before serving.
Cuisine: American
Course: Dessert
Author: Danielle Rye
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