Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

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These Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies are delicate and chewy, and have frivolously crisp edges. They’re filled with tart cranberries and candy white chocolate chips in each chunk! These easy-to-make cookies are excellent for the vacations – or any day!

Cranberry white chocolate chip cookies in a bowl

A Basic Cookie Taste

These cranberry white chocolate chip cookies are primarily based on my white chocolate macadamia cookies, that are a traditional and well-loved recipe. This model adjustments it up a bit and provides dried cranberries for a bit vacation twist. Whereas cranberries are scrumptious all 12 months lengthy, they appear very Christmas-y to me. I like the deep taste from the brown sugar in these cookies with the pop of candy and tart from the white chocolate and cranberries. It’s a scrumptious mixture that undoubtedly deserves a spot in your cookie tray.

Why You’ll Love These Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies

  • Delicate and chewy. These cranberry white chocolate chip cookies have the PERFECT degree of chewiness to them. They’re just a bit crisp and golden on the surface however the inside is tremendous delicate and chewy. So excellent!
  • Made with pantry staples. Past the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, the remainder of the components on this cookie recipe are in all probability already in your pantry. Excellent for whipping up anytime.
  • Simple! The dough comes collectively in just some minutes and requires nothing greater than a mixer, bowl, and spatula. They bake up in simply 8 minutes too!
  • Make the dough forward. The dough on this recipe does want to sit back for a number of hours, so I wish to make it an evening upfront. Simply pull it from the fridge an hour or so earlier than baking.

If you happen to love cranberry + white chocolate collectively, you should definitely take a look at my cranberry bliss bars and white chocolate dipped cranberry oatmeal cookies!

Ingredients needed to make cranberry white chocolate chip cookies

What You’ll Want

It’s not an extended checklist of components, however right here’s what you’ll want and why. Scroll all the way down to the recipe card beneath for actual measurements.

  • All-purpose flour – You should definitely measure the flour precisely to keep away from cookies that unfold an excessive amount of or too little.
  • Baking soda – This provides chewiness to those cookies and helps them brown properly.
  • Salt – For bringing out the flavors within the cookie. Don’t neglect it!
  • Unsalted butter – The butter should be at room temperature. In any other case, it received’t cream correctly with the sugars.
  • Mild brown sugar – This offers the cookies nice taste. It provides such a pleasant caramel-y taste to the cookies.
  • Granulated sugar – To assist the sunshine brown sugar in tenderizing the cookies, with out including an excessive amount of brown sugar.
  • Egg & egg yolk – To bind the components collectively, add moisture and add chewiness.
  • Vanilla extract
  • Combine-ins – White chocolate chips and dried cranberries give these cookies their title and add dots of colour and taste all through the cookies.
  • Milk

The best way to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

The dough for these cookies comes collectively shortly and so they bake in just some minutes. Nevertheless the dough wants to sit back for a number of hours, so you should definitely issue that into your timing. You could find the printable model of the directions within the recipe card beneath.

  • Prep the dry components. Whisk collectively the flour, baking soda, and salt. Put aside.
  • Cream the butter and sugar. Cream the butter and sugars collectively till gentle and fluffy. Add the egg and egg yolk one after the other, mixing effectively after every addition, after which combine within the vanilla extract.
  • Mix. Add the dry components to the moist combination. Combine till the dough is simply mixed, taking care to not overmix.
  • Add the milk. Combine in a teaspoon of milk on low till integrated and use a spatula to complete mixing the dough. If wanted, you may add the second teaspoon of milk however provided that the dough nonetheless hasn’t come collectively.
  • Add the mix-ins. Stir within the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.
  • Chill. Type 2 tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2-3 hours (in a single day is okay) then allow them to sit out at room temperature for about an hour earlier than baking.
  • Bake. Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes, eradicating simply as the sides start to show golden. They need to be a bit puffy whenever you take them out of the oven.
  • Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes then switch to a wire rack to chill fully. Use a spoon to softly push the perimeters in if they’ve unfold an excessive amount of.

Why Do I Want To Chill The Dough?

It’d appear to be a trouble, however this step is price it, so don’t skip it. Because the cookie dough sits, the moisture soaks into the flour and turns into extra dispersed via the dry components. This helps maintain your cookies from over-spreading and makes them extra moist, tender and chewy. Not not all cookies are made higher by refrigeration, however these 100% are.

Suggestions for Completely Baked Cookies

  • Use light-colored trays. Cookies bake much more evenly and can maintain their delicate and chewy heart higher if the baking tray is a lightweight colour.
  • Use a silicone baking mat. Keep away from throwing out limitless sheets of parchment paper through the use of a silicone baking mat as an alternative. The cookies additionally received’t stick!
  • Don’t overbake. These white chocolate chip cranberry cookies are usually not ones you wish to overbake as you’ll lose that pleasant chewy texture. They need to be simply turning golden brown on the sides and look a bit puffy within the heart – they are going to deflate a bit out of the oven and proceed cooking for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet.
Overhead view of cranberry white chocolate chip cookies on the counter

Troubleshooting

Above are some nice common cookie ideas, however listed here are some issues to contemplate in case your cookies unfold an excessive amount of or not sufficient.

Why did my cookies unfold an excessive amount of?

  • Heat cookie dough. Heat cookie dough spreads as a result of the warmth causes the butter to soften, making the dough extra liquid and permitting it to unfold because it bakes. You should definitely chill your dough (see my subsequent level) and don’t go away it out for too lengthy earlier than baking.
  • You didn’t refrigerate the cookie dough. When the cookie dough is refrigerated (it wants a minimum of 2-3 hours), moisture is absorbed by the dry components. If you happen to skip this step, the moisture continues to be hanging out in there and finally ends up making your cookies unfold an excessive amount of.
  • An excessive amount of milk. You wish to add simply sufficient milk to assist carry the dough collectively. No extra. Extra liquid within the dough will trigger the cookies to unfold an excessive amount of.
  • Not sufficient flour. If you happen to don’t measure out sufficient flour, the moist components received’t take up into the dough as effectively, which may trigger the cookies to unfold an excessive amount of.
  • An excessive amount of sugar. Sugar provides moisture to the dough and moisture makes cookies unfold extra. So including an excessive amount of sugar could cause the cookies to unfold an excessive amount of.
  • Too-big dough balls. Greater balls unfold extra so purpose for two tablespoons of dough per ball.
  • Not sufficient mix-ins. The less white chocolate chips/nuts in a cookie, the extra possible it’s to unfold extra.

Why didn’t my cookies unfold sufficient?

  • An excessive amount of flour. The primary perpetrator right here is over-measuring flour. Use a meals scale for essentially the most correct measurement.
  • Overly chilly cookie dough. It’s vital to let the cookie dough sit out for an hour earlier than you bake it. Letting it come to room temperature permits the dough to chill out a bit and unfold extra.
  • Too many mix-ins. If a cookie has too many mix-ins, they might keep in a mound within the heart of the cookie so it finally ends up not spreading as effectively.
  • Not sufficient sugar. Sugar provides moisture, which provides to the cookies’ unfold. If you happen to don’t have sufficient sugar, the cookie received’t unfold sufficient.
  • Tiny dough balls. Smaller dough balls are more likely to unfold much less. Strive flattening them out a bit previous to baking, if wanted.
A bowl of cranberry white chocolate cookies with one broken in half to show the inside

Storing & Freezing

  • Storing. Retailer absolutely cooled cookies in an hermetic container for 4-5 days.
  • Freeze the cookie dough. Place the baking tray with the balls of dough within the freezer for half-hour. Switch them to a freezer-friendly bag or container. Freeze for as much as 3 months. Place them on the counter for 1 hour or so earlier than baking, to allow them to thaw. You possibly can bake from frozen, however you’ll want so as to add a pair extra minutes of bake time and so they received’t unfold fairly as a lot.
  • Freeze the baked cookies. Place the cooled cookies on a baking sheet and freeze them for 1 hour. Switch them to a freezer-friendly bag or container. Freeze them for as much as 3 months. Thaw within the fridge or on the counter earlier than consuming.

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Cranberry white chocolate cookies on the counter