White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies (Soft And Chewy!)

Soft and chewy cranberry white chocolate chip cookies have the perfect mix of sweet white chocolate and flavorful packed dried cranberries. These gooey white chocolate cranberry cookies are especially great for the holidays, makes a nice size batch for sharing, but are simple enough to have as a treat all year long.

 

Why We Love White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

• Quick To Make– These white chocolate and cranberry cookies use a familiar cookie base with a twist. This is a super quick and easy cookie to make.
• Sweet And Flavorful– The white chocolate gives these cookies a little extra sweet which goes so nicely with the little burst of flavor from the cranberries. Yum!
• Soft And Chewy- Chewy cookies with a buttery brown sugar flavor, everything you love about classic chocolate chip cookies is in this recipe.
• Great To Make For The Holidays– These are the perfect holiday cookie for a holiday cookie tray and are especially nice at Christmas parties or cookie exchanges.

Ingredients For White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

• unsalted butter –  softened, at room temperature
• brown sugar – packed
• granulated sugar
• eggs
• vanilla extract
• all purpose flour
• baking soda
• salt
• white chocolate chips– sometimes these are called white chocolate morsels
• dried cranberries – use tart dried cranberries like Craisins, the flavored versions also work well.

How To Make White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly oil the pan. You can also use silicone baking mats on the pan.
2. Add butter, brown sugar and white sugar together in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer or a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars on medium until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix the ingredients well until combined.
4. In a medium mixing bowl add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients well.
5. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients using an electric mixer. Mix well on first a low setting then a medium setting until the dry ingredients are fully mixed into the wet ingredients and a dough comes together.

6. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries into the dough. This step can be done with an electric mixer on low or with a rubber spatula to avoid breaking up the chocolate chips.
7. Use a cookie scoop and scoop the cookie dough into about two tablespoon balls. Place cookie dough at least two inches on your prepared baking sheet. Press a few extra dried cranberries and white chocolate chips into the top of the cookies for a prettier cookie if desired.

8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on edges but still gooey in the center. Let the cranberry white chocolate cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Then move to clean kitchen towels or wire racks for the cookies to cool completely before storing. Enjoy!

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookie Variations

Add nuts– Nuts really complement these cookies well. Try adding a half of a cup of chopped walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts to the cookie dough. This can be done at the same time you add the chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Swap cranberries– You can swap other dried fruit for the cranberries in this recipe for a different twist. Dried cherries and dried blueberries are both particularly delicious. Also flavored cranberries can be really delicious in this recipe. We like the orange flavored cranberries for the holidays.

Change the chocolate– Dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips or even milk chocolate chips are an easy and delicious swap into this cookie recipe. Also white chocolate chunks or chocolate chunks can be fun in these cookies!

Can I Swap Fresh Cranberries For Dried Cranberries?

I honestly haven’t tried this cookie recipe with fresh cranberries. Fresh cranberries do tend to be a whole lot more tart then dried cranberries. Without testing them, I’m not sure if the sweetness of the cookies is balanced enough for fresh cranberries. It would be similar for frozen cranberries, they may be ok or it may be too tart.. If you do try fresh cranberries in these cookies, let me know how it goes in the comments.

Have only fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries? Try the sweet orange glazed cranberry quick bread or the cranberry crumble bars which are tested and made with fresh cranberries.

How Long Do Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies Last?

Cookies will taste their best if enjoyed within 3-4 days. Store cookies in an airtight container on the counter.

Can I Freeze These Soft And Chewy Cookies?

This cookie dough freezes really well. I recommend portioning the cookie dough into round dough balls and wrapping in freezer paper. Then transfer the dough balls into a freezer zip-top bag or freezer safe container. Cookie dough will stay fresh for up to three months from frozen.

You can bake frozen cookie dough balls from frozen. Expect when baking from frozen these cookies may need an additional minute or two in the oven, so watch closely!