These White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies are so delicious and festive. Soft and chewy cranberry cookies studded with white chocolate chips and orange zest, create the perfect balance of sweetness from the white chocolate and the tartness of cranberry.
These soft-baked cookies will be a favorite on your Christmas cookie platter this year. Arrange them with your Sugar Cookies and Gingerbread Cookies, and your holiday treats will steal the spotlight at any cookie swap or party you have planned.
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White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
I love serving festive cookies, whether at home, at a friendly cookie swap, or as a gift for a neighbor or friend. While I certainly appreciate the artistry of decorated cookies, I am also thankful when the ingredients themselves naturally elevate the flavor and presentation. If you love easy cookies like the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies or Chocolate Chip Cookies, this recipe is for you. These easy-to-make cookies are delicious and effortlessly beautiful with bright red cranberries and snow-white chocolate chips poking through.
You can use fresh or dried cranberries in this recipe, though fresh cranberries are preferred for a softer and brighter cookie (see the comparison below). Fresh cranberries will also need to bake for a couple of minutes longer since they hold a bit more moisture.
Here’s why you will love these Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies:
- Easy to make – This recipe makes 3 dozen cookies, which might sound like a lot, but they’re so sweet, comforting, and giftable so they’ll be gone in no time.
- Festive – The red and white contrast of cranberries and white chocolate morsels will enhance your holiday cookie trays but are fantastic year-round.
- Make ahead – The dough can be made ahead of time and the baked cookies are freezer-friendly.
- Customizable – Want chocolate? Add chocolate chips. Like a crunch? Add nuts. See other variations below. You can also use fresh or dried cranberries.
Ingredients
This cookie recipe requires very little prep. Good-looking cookies do not have to be hard to make. Grab your measuring cups and mixer, because this recipe is nothing more than scoop, measure, pour, and mix.
- Butter – unsalted and softened and room temperature
- Sugar – for sweetness and to help get those perfectly crisp edges
- Brown Sugar – helps to give a chewy texture and richer color
- Flour – all-purpose, or replace with your favorite GF flour. Be sure to measure flour correctly.
- Orange Zest – adds a fresh citrus zing. It’s an easy to way to add great flavor.
- Vanilla – I use my homemade pure Vanilla Extract (These make great holiday gifts too!)
- Egg – should be large and room temperature
- Baking Powder – helps your cookies rise, we don’t want flat cookies on our cookie tray
- Salt – to balance the sweetness
- White Chocolate Chips – I love when these melt giving you little pockets of delicious white chocolate in every bite.
- Cranberries – fresh, coarsely chopped, or substitute with dried cranberries if necessary. If you soak your cranberries in hot water for 15-20 minutes, you’ll get softer cookies.
Substitutions
These cranberry cookies can be made to your flavor preferences- add chopped macadamia nuts or walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, lemon zest, or even a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg.
Pro Tip:
Dried cranberries bake 1-3 minutes faster than fresh cranberries (which have more moisture), so be sure to watch your cookies in the oven to prevent them from overcooking. Watch for the edges to turn golden brown and you’ll know they’re done to perfection.
How to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
- Prepare – Preheat the oven to 350°F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Wet Ingredients – Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, in a large bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well to incorporate. Beat in the zest and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed to ensure everything is mixed in.
- Dry Ingredients – In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and beat just until combined and the cookie dough comes together.
- Fold – Using a stiff spatula, fold in the chopped cranberries and white chocolate chips. Don’t overmix, you don’t want to smoosh the cranberries.
- Shape and Bake – Shape into 1-inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges (Cookies with dried cranberries will bake faster, about 11-13 minutes).
- Cool – Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Pro Tip:
Use a small trigger-release cookie scoop to get evenly-sized cookie dough balls every time.
Make-Ahead
To store cookies: transfer to an airtight container and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. Cookies can also be frozen or refrigerated for longer storage.
Make-ahead: If you are not baking right away, wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 72 hours. To bake, remove from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature until the dough softens enough to scoop.
To freeze cookie dough: Place cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet, cover, and freeze for an hour or until solid. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a large Ziploc bag and freeze up to 3 months.
To bake frozen cookie dough: Place the frozen cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and thaw in the refrigerator for 3 hours before baking per the recipe instructions.
Sending you the merriest wishes on your Christmas baking journey. May your oven be precise, your ingredients be plenty, and each cookie be a sweet reflection of the joy and warmth of the season.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
If you love these Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies, then you’ll want to try these other tried and true Christmas cookies. Try one, or try them all and have the most beautiful holiday spread.
- Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Chocolate Truffles
- Russian Tea Cakes
- Almond Snowball Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (12 Tbsp or 1.5 sticks)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp grated orange zest
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, or use your favorite GF flour, measured correctly
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cups white chocolate chips
- 2 cups fresh cranberries (8 oz. bag), coarsely chopped, or substitute 1 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream together the butter and both sugars for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well to incorporate. Beat in the zest and vanilla extract.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and beat just until combined and dough comes together.
- Using a stiff spatula, stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips just until incorporated. Shape into 1-inch balls (a small cookie scoop makes it easy) and place 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheet.
- Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges (Cookies with dried cranberries will bake faster, about 11-13 minutes).
- Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I agree, the first batch was overly sweet. I cut back on the sugar in the second batch, which balanced the flavors.
These were an interesting cookie with a soft texture and a pleasant taste that was not overly sweet.
I was in the process of naking your recipe, White chocolate cranberry cookies.
In place of the cranberries, I use sweet cherries and cut them up and sweet blueberries. The recipe called for 2 cups of fresh cranberries or one cup of dried cranberries so I used a half a cup of dried sweet cherries and a half a cup of dried sweet blueberries, I got the whole prepared and I still had the brown sugar left over the recipe in the beginning, said to cream together the butter and the sugar, and it did not say sugars it should have specified both! So I added it at the end Disappointing getting unclear directions
Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention. I made an update to the recipe card and instructions above to clarify that. Sorry I missed that important detail.
Very good cookies. The next time I make them, I’ll probably use a little less sugar, though. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I agree, the first batch was overly sweet. I cut back on the sugar in the second batch, which balanced the flavors.
Flavor was AMAZING. I these cookies have been my favorite since I was a little girl. I’ve never had this recipe and my first time making them. Why didn’t my cookies flatten out? Every batch stayed small and like a hockey puck. Measured exactly as recipe called. Including the flour. Could I have over mixed? My white chocolates didn’t even melt. The bottoms got golden brown, so they were however coooked. They weren’t pretty, but they tasted delicious!
Hi Natascha! Is it possible to turn these into chocolate cookies, have you tested that by any chance? If so, how much cacao should I add? 😀 If not, I would love to see an actual chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe from you if you ever get to it! 🙂
Hi Kath! Without testing that, I can’t advise on those instructions. Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll make note of it and see if that’s something we can do in the future.
Could you substitute dried sweet cherries chopped up a bit with the white chocolate or would mini chocolate morsels work better?
Hi Mary Lou, I imagine that may work. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.
My mother-in-law wanted cranberry cookies. I’d never had. I looked and Natasha had a recipe. They are the cookie I didn’t know I needed. They’re moist and so flavorful. The orange addition really does the trick. Only thing I added was a little maldon salt and a drizzle of white chocolate.
Can these be made with milk chocolate morsels, instead of white chocolate chips? Don’t care for white chocolate. Thank you ~
HI Karen, Yes you could substitute with milk chocolate morsels instead. It will just change the flavor profile but should work well. I hope you love the cookies!
Can you use frozen cranberries or is it better to have them thaw?
Hi Kelli! I have not tried this with frozen cranberries. I assume it could work, but I would thaw and strain them well.
Hi Natasha! I have to make them…but how would I make them crisper?
Hi Haireena! This is not a crispy cookie recipe. You could bake them a little longer if you prefer but it can dry them out.
Thanks, Natasha! Super simple to make. Looks great. Hopefully the family likes the taste!
Just made these and they were alright. The cookies were a bit dry and crumbly and didn’t spread out at all. A bit too sweet with the dried cranberries too
Hi Sam. I’m sorry you didn’t have a great experience. The most common reason for that happening is using too much flour. Please see my note above for tips and watch my tutorial on How to measure ingredients to ensure you’re measuring your flour correctly.
Love these cookies but I needed to add another egg and a couple T of milk because the cookies were to dry. After I added another egg and 2T of milk they were perfect!
Hi Annette! They shouldn’t be dry, but I’m glad you figured out a solution. Be sure to measure your flour correctly. The most common reason is using too much flour which causes the wet/dry ratio to be off. I filmed a tutorial on How to measure ingredients . I hope that helps.
This recipe turned out amazing! Quick tip: if you don’t want to wait 3 hours (like me) to bake the frozen cookie dough balls, put them in the oven at 330 f immediately once you start to preheat the oven, and leave them in for 18 minutes. 🙂
Thanks for your review and tips, Laura. We appreciate it!
These cookies are delicious! They are also easy to make. Fresh cranberries were not available, so I used 1 cup of dried cranberries that I soaked in hot water for 20 minutes. I added 1 cup chopped pecans. Absolutely delicious! Thx, Natasha!
Sounds wonderful, Wanda! Thank you for sharing your experience.
I made these for the 1st time & used fresh cranberries. They were really sour & no one would eat them. I probably should have used dried cranberries instead…
HI Michelle, they are sweeter with dried cranberries but the cranberries should not overwhelm the cookie. Did you use more than what was called for or possibly reduce the sugar?
I used thawed chopped cranberries. I didn’t see your note about soaking them in water but they turned out nice and soft.
The combination of the cranberries and white chocolate chips makes this recipe pure perfection. We all loved them and they froze nicely. Too bad we gobbled them up already. I guess I will have to be sure to keep a bag of cranberries in the freezer!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Oh, and I used gf flour with no problems!
Hi Sue! Thanks so much for sharing that with us. I’m glad you loved the recipe.
Hi Natasha, I made these cookies and didn’t come out like yours, I think I chopped the cranberries too much and the texture of cookies was different. Is it because I chopped cranberries very small? I love all your recipes I have made and love your cookout, Thankyou!❤
Hi Mary. I would love to help troubleshoot. Can you be more specific about the texture? What was wrong with them?
These cookies were so delicious, everyone enjoyed them and asked for the recipe!
That’s great, Ellen!