Dried cranberry chocolate chip cookies

The best cranberry chocolate chip cookies recipe with macadamia nuts ! These cookies are incredibly chewy and super flavourful with the fruity taste of dried cranberries and the crunch of white chocolate chips. 

If you want to try a different recipe than the classic chocolate chip cookies you will be surprised by this delicious fruity recipe! They have an incredibly chewy and crunchy texture but most importantly they are very easy to make and perfect for any occasion.

Cranberries chocolate chip cookies

I should probably start by telling you about my go-to recipe for making the best cookie dough! The texture is so perfect for tasty and irresistible cookies, whether they are chocolate chip or dried cranberry cookies, they are always amazing.

The dough is so chewy with a crunchy layer for thick and greedy cookies and the addition of cranberries brings a fruity and tasty note. And of guess what, it's a perfect combination of the dried cranberries with the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

Useful tools to make cookies recipes

• Baking tray, preferably perforated for perfect baking cookies
• Silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• Ice cream scoop, very useful for shaping cookies and measuring equal portions of cookies dough.
• Electric mixer, or a pastry whisk and a wooden spoon to gently mix the dough after adding the dry ingredients.

Ingredients notes

Flour

Use all purpose wheat flour, the only thing I would add about the flour is to measure the quantity with an electric scale because it is in the right dosage of the flour that you get that soft texture.

Tips: For a oatmeal cranberry cookies recipe, you can either replace some of the flour with mixed old fashionned rolled oats, or use a mixture of oatmeal flour and rolled oats.

Butter

Use quality unsalted butter with at least 80% fat, it must be softened or melted but cooled a bit before it blends better with the other ingredients.

Sugar

I like to use a mix of white and brown sugar in cookie recipes. Use powdered or granulated sugar and brown sugar for extra flavor, which you can also substitute with cane sugar.

Egg

The recipe calls for only one egg, it must be of medium to large size and especially at room temperature.

Baking soda

For this cookie recipe I only use baking soda which is a little stronger than baking powder, but you can make a mixture of the two to give a soft texture.

Salt and vanilla extract

Salt is a flavor enhancer and vanilla extract brings a delicate fragrance to sweet recipes, they are both essential.

Dried cranberry

Use dried cranberries for this cookie recipe.

White chocolate chips

White chocolate chips are quite sweet so use a quality brand of chocolate and if necessary adjust the amount of sugar in this recipe. You can even try making them yourself by following my recipe for homemade chocolate chips.

Macadamia nuts

Macadamia nuts are delicious in cookies recipes and especially with dried fruit. But you can also try other nuts like walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts.

How to make the cranberry chocolate chip cookies

Make the cookies dough

Start by creaming the butter with the powdered sugar and brown sugar, mixing with a whisk or a hand mixer at high speed until smooth and fluffy.

Then add the egg and vanilla extract and mix at medium speed for 1 minute to incorporate them well.

Then with a spatula add the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda and salt and mix gently just enough to obtain a homogeneous mixture.

Finally add the dried cranberries, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips and stir either with your hands or with a wooden spoon to incorporate them well.

Let your cookie dough chill

Cover the bowl with cling film and place your cookie dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or Ideally 2 hours. And trust me, just letting the dough rest will make your cookies even more flavorful and chewy.

Chilling the dough allows ingredients like butter to firm up and the dough will be easier to shape. But also this action allows the dry ingredients to absorb and impregnate the liquid ingredients so that the cookies will be more tasty, thicker after baking and therefore with a softer texture.

Bake the cranberry cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Then shape the cookies with an ice cream scoop, which is also called a cookie scoop today and allows you to have nice balls of dough for nice round and regular cookies.

Place your cookies on your prepared baking tray and bake your cookies in the oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, the baking time depending on the power of your oven and the diameter of the cookies.

The cookies will be ready when they have a nice golden brown color, but you will see that they are still a little soft at the end of the baking process and this is normal because they will harden a little as they cool. So let them cool a bit before moving them to a wire rack to cool.

How to store cranberry white chocolate chip cookies

At room temperature

White chocolate cranberry cookies can be stored like shortbread cookies at room temperature for several weeks. To keep the freshness and softness of the cookies and to prevent them from absorbing too much moisture and losing their crunchiness, you can place them in a storage box with an airtight lid.

In the freezer

Or even better you can place them either after shaping them into balls or after baking when they are completely cooled in a storage bag and keep them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Then just place them on a baking sheet and let them defrost before cooking them. Or if they are already cooked, leave them at room temperature or use the defrost mode of your microwave.

Tips for successful cookies

Use eggs at room temperature

Melted butter, it blends in better with the ingredients and makes for super tasty cookies. This is also why you have to let the dough rest in the fridge, if the cookies are cooked immediately they will be very flat and dry.

If you don't have time to let the dough chill overnight, then use room temperature softened butter instead and try to let them chill for at least 2 hours.

Do not over mix the batter.

Do not over mix the batter, specially after adding the flour, to have a light and fluffy cookie dough and avoid having cookies that are too compact.

You can use an electric mixer or whisk to mix the mixture and then when adding the dry ingredients, use a wooden spoon instead.

Let the dough chill

Let the dough chill, let the dough chill, repeat again ! This is certainly the best tip for successful cookies making.

As the butter is melted to be better incorporated into the dry ingredients, it needs to regain its strength in the refrigerator which results in thick and chewy cookies. Also this resting time allows all the ingredients to impregnate well and gives an incredible flavor

Do not overcook the cookies

When it is overcooked, it is not only too dry in the mouth but also the flavors are burned for a dry mass and a caramelized taste

And since every oven is different, start with an average time of 10 minutes and add extra minutes to arrive at a cooking time between 13 - 17 minutes (depending on the diameter).  They should feel cooked on the outside and soft on the inside. And especially that the cookies after baking are still very soft but will harden as they cool, so don't move them right away.

Other cookies recipes

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Peanut butter cookies
• Brownie cookies
  
• Snickerdoodle cookies

Don't forget to tag me @sweetlycakes on Instagram if you make my cranberry chocolate chip cookies recipe and add a link to my recipe if you share it on your blog 😉