These Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies are the perfect combination of sweet and tart flavors. They are fantastic for the holidays and surprisingly easy to make!
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Pin RecipeIt’s cookie season! We all have our favorite classic recipes like chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies. However, this year you’ll want to add these Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies to your list!
The tart cranberries complement the sweet flavor of white chocolate perfectly, creating a tantalizing combination of tastes and textures. It’s just perfect!
I also have a few little tricks to make the cookie dough even more flavorful than any other cookies you have ever tried. For example, I use browned butter to make the dough, a step that takes just a minute longer but gives these Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies a strong caramel taste you’ll love.
(For more festive cookie recipes, be sure to try my Peanut Butter Thumbprint Cookies and Christmas M&M Cookies, too!)
Chewy Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe
These easy Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies only take about 10 minutes to put together. I love using this recipe when I need to make a quick dessert to bring to a holiday party or get-together. One batch makes about 30 small cookies, so there’s plenty to share! You can also make bigger cookies which will make really chewy white chocolate cranberry cookies.
I am definitely a chewy cookie kind of person, but if you like your cookies a little crispy, leave them in the oven for 2 more minutes. This will make the edges a deeper brown and give the white chocolate chunk cookies a nice crunch. (Do you like chewy cookies or crunchy cookies? I feel like the world is split down the middle!)
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Ingredients for White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- All-Purpose flour – Replace this with all-purpose gluten-free flour to make gluten-free Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter when I bake.
- Baking soda
- Salt
- White sugar
- Brown sugar – Using white and brown sugar adds a complex flavor, keeping the cookies soft and moist.
- Egg yolk – Save the egg white for another recipe or use it to make egg white omelets!
- Vanilla extract
- White chocolate chips – You can use white chocolate chips or white chocolate chunks. Both will work perfectly.
- Dried cranberries – I use unsweetened dried cranberries, but you can also use sweetened dried cranberries. Craisins work well for these homemade cranberry white chocolate chip cookies.
- Lemon zest – Freshly grated lemon zest has the strongest flavor.
Variations
Here are a few ways to switch up the flavor of these Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies to create something a little different:
- Use raisins in place of dried cranberries. Dried blueberries also go really well in this cookie recipe.
- Dark chocolate chips are delicious in place of white chocolate chips. Dark chocolate cranberry cookies are more intense and decadent. Or, you can include a mixture of both!
- Skip the brown butter, and use regular melted butter for the recipe to help speed things up.
- Skip the lemon zest to make the cookies taste a little sweeter.
Quick Tip
The cookie dough for this recipe will be softer than other cookie doughs you may have made in the past. It is almost like a thick cake batter rather than a stiff cookie dough.
How to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 375ºF, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make brown butter: Melt the butter in a small pan over medium-high heat. When it starts to turn a golden brown, remove the pan from the heat, and let the butter cool.
- Add the sugars: Add the brown butter, brown sugar, and white sugar to a bowl and beat with an electric mixer. Add the egg yolk and mix again. The mixture will look a little wet.
- Add the dry ingredients: Add the flour, lemon zest, vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda to the bowl, and mix into a smooth batter.
- Add the mix-ins: Fold the white chocolate chips and cranberries into the batter. Refrigerate the dough to make it easier to scoop.
- Scoop and bake: Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared parchment-lined baking sheet. Press down on the dough slightly to make each cookie flat. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, or until the edges are starting to turn a golden brown color.
- Cool: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Quick Tip
Use a cookie dough scoop to make portioning your cookie dough easy! It also ensures they’re all the same size so no one has to argue over who’s getting the biggest treat.
How to Store White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Transfer cooled cookies to an airtight container or sealable bag. They’ll keep fresh at room temperature for 4 to 5 days if you can get them to last that long!
Or, freeze the cookies baked or unbaked for up to 3 months. To freeze the raw cookie dough, arrange the cookie dough balls on the baking sheet, and place them in the freezer until solid. Then, transfer them to a sealable bag.
When you’re ready to eat, bake from frozen, adding a minute or two as needed. Your cookies will taste good as new!
FAQs
Keep cookies moist by baking them only until the edges are golden brown. The tops should still be light, but also a matte color (not wet looking). Baking the cookies to the perfect doneness will ensure they stay tender and soft.
Cookies that have fewer eggs tend to be lighter in color. The protein in eggs is what makes cookies brown because it caramelizes as they bake. If the cookies are a pale color, like these white chocolate cranberry cookies, they may just not have a lot of eggs!
Another reason cookies would be a light color is that they are not baked completely. Cookies get darker as they bake, so a very pale cookie may just need some more time in the oven. If the cookies are also super soft or wet-looking, more baking time may be needed.
White chocolate doesn’t contain cocoa particles, which means it is not technically chocolate. It is made from cocoa butter mixed with sugar and vanilla flavoring. It may not be true chocolate, but it is still delicious!
You bet! Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap, or transfer it to an airtight container. It will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days.
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Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment
- Baking trays
- Parchment paper
- Cookie scoop
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
- ½ cup dried cranberries zest
Instructions
- Make the brown butter. You can skip this step and use softened butter to mix with sugars, but brown butter does give a creamier and caramel flavor to cookies. Melt butter in a small sauce pot or pan until it starts to become brown. Remove from the heat, let cool and pour into a large mixing bowl.2 sticks butter
- Add sugars, blend with an electric mixer on medium and follow with egg yolk. Blend.½ cup granulated sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 large egg yolk
- Add flour, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, baking soda. Blend on low and finally stir in chocolate chunks and cranberries. Refrigerate the batter for 10 minutes.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks, ½ cup dried cranberries
- Scoop about 1 ½ – 2 tablespoon size of the dough into balls, place on a baking sheet, and press slightly to flatten. Arrange more chocolate chunks and cranberries on top and bake for 8 minutes at 375ºF.
- You will need to scoop and bake in batches, refrigerating the dough in between the baking.
