Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• Butter unsalted 
• Dark Brown Sugar
• Sugar white
• Egg 
• Vanilla Extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Corn starch
• Kosher Salt
• Dried cranberries
• White chocolate chips

What is White Chocolate

White chocolate really isn't chocolate, so I wanted to find out why it was called chocolate. I found a site that explains what white chocolate is and why it is called White Chocolate at Today I Found Out.

There are a couple of differences between chocolate and white chocolate. The big reason is it does not contain any cocoa solids. This means that it does not taste like regular chocolate at all.

White chocolate has cocoa butter, milk solids, sugar, and vanilla flavoring. In comparison, regular chocolate contains cocoa solids, milk solids, sugar, and a minimal amount of vanilla flavoring. So, although they are close in the ingredients they are far apart in taste.

But the bottom line is that it is still called chocolate, which is okay in my book.

So Why Try These Cookies

Remembering Easter and my basket, I always had at least 1 or 2 white chocolate bunnies. I even traded for theirs with my brother and sister, although it didn't always work out how I wanted.  But it never hurt to try, and if that didn't work, I would sneak a piece or two when they weren't looking.

If you are a white chocolate lover like me, you might want to also try two of my favorites: white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies or sweet cherries with white chocolate cookies. My thought is you can't go wrong when white chocolate is in almost any kind of cookie.

The cookie batter is close in taste to chocolate chip cookie dough, which makes these so good. So you can take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and add the cranberries and the white chocolate. So there you go, you made your own cranberry and white chocolate cookies.

Of course, what can you say about the beloved cranberry? The holiday favorites are jellies, sauces, and desserts. I have been waiting for the fresh cranberries to hit the grocery store shelves, and it should be any day now—time to put on my thinking cap and develop a few new recipes.

Making Easy Cranberry Cookies

I always start by weighing out my ingredients. I begin with the sugars, and don't forget to use the Tare button between sugars if adding both sugars to one bowl.

Next, in another bowl, add the flour, baking soda, corn starch, and salt, running a whisk through the dry ingredients to blend.

I am never sure if my butter is soft enough, so I start by creaming the butter before adding the sugar. This can take anywhere from 1 to 2 minutes.

Then add the sugars and mix on a medium mixer speed for 3 minutes. There is more sugar than butter so it will look rather sugary.

Scrape down the sides and mix again for a minute if not all the butter has been incorporated.

Next, add the egg and the vanilla extract and mix for a minute or two. You want the egg mixed in before you add the dry ingredients. I scrape down the bowl sides and slowly add the flour mixture on a low mixer speed.

Finally, add the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries and mix for about 30 seconds. You want to keep the dried cranberries intact.

Cover and chill for 45 minutes to an hour.

Baking Your Cranberry Cookies

Turn the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Take the chilled cookie dough out of the refrigerator, and it is time to bake.

I use a medium cookie scooper to add 12 scoops to one of the prepared sheet pans and bake for 9-11 minutes.

You can move the cookies to a cooling rack once they are out of the oven. I got 24 cookies, which was enough for two pans.

Enjoy!

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