White chocolate cranberry orange cookies with an orange drizzle are bright, cozy and bakery worthy all at once. Sweet white chocolate, tart red cranberries, and fresh orange come together in a soft, chewy cookie that works any time of the year. The orange drizzle adds just enough extra citrus to take these delicious cookies to the next level.
Have you tried my cherry chocolate chunk cookies? If so, you'll notice this recipe is very similar. Why? Because once you have a good base recipe, then it's easy to adjust it. Maybe you've heard that baking is a science, that it has to be exact? That's only partially true.
There are certain things about baking that definitely relate to science. For example, adding a little vinegar to baking soda can create a moist, soft crumb for a cake. Adding a lot of vinegar to baking soda creates a volcano, aka a 4th grade science project. In that case, the amount of vinegar and baking soda is a science. But the other ingredients in the cake? Not so much! Don't be afraid to make small adjustments to fruits, nuts and chocolates.
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Ingredients for cranberry orange cookies
- White chocolate chips
- Frozen cranberries
- An orange for zest (save the juice for the drizzle)
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Salted butter
- Cream cheese
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
See recipe card for quantities.
Ingredients for orange drizzle
- Powdered sugar
- Salted butter
- An orange for juice
Substitutions
- Cranberries - I love using frozen cranberries, that way I don't have to worry doubt buying fresh cranberries when they're in the store. But, you can certainly substitute fresh cranberries or even dried cranberries in this recipe.
- White chocolate chips - you can use white chocolate chunks if you prefer. You can also substitute milk, semi sweet or dark chocolate for the white chocolate as well.
- Orange - you can leave out the orange if you want only white chocolate cranberry cookies. You'll need to use milk instead of orange juice for the icing drizzle though.
Variations
- Adding nuts - you can add it a nut for some or all of the cranberries or white chocolate. Macadamia nuts are always a hit with white chocolate and pistachios would be festive and delicious. 10 ounces of white chocolate chips is approximately 1 and ⅔ cups. If you are substituting nuts for some of the white chocolate or cranberries, substitute it on a volume basis. For example, substitute ½ cup of macadamia nuts for ½ cup of white chocolate chips.
Equipment
A stand or hand mixer is helpful for this recipe.
Storage
Store the cranberry orange cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 to 4 days. Use parchment paper to separate any layers.
Next Level Tips
- Fresh orange zest infuses a fabulous orange flavor into the cookies. Just don't eat it straight! It's way too bitter (yes, I have tried it haha). But once the orange zest is mixed in, it's diluted and balanced out by the sugar and fat. It will definitely take your cookies to the next level! Use a zester or a fine grater to grate the orange peel for zest. Try to get only the orange parts of the peel and not the white parts of the pith when you are grating the orange peel.
- The salt in the salted butter in the drizzle helps balance the sweetness. You could even add an additional tiny pinch of salt to the drizzle.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons salted butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange peel packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup frozen cranberries
- 10 ounces white chocolate chips or chunks
Orange Drizzle
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1-2 tablespoon orange juice
Instructions
Cranberry Orange Cookies
- Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt to a small bowl. Stir well and set aside.
- Add the softened butter and softened cream cheese to a mixing bowl and mix with a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium low until well blended.
- Add the brown sugar, vanilla extract and orange peel to the mixing bowl and mix until fluffy.
- Add the eggs to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix only until all of the flour streaks are gone.
- Fold in the frozen cranberries and white chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed. (You can also set aside some cranberries and white chocolate if you want to press some into the tops of the cookie mounds manually before baking to make the cookies prettier.)
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line the baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Use a medium cookie scoop, or two spoons, to drop the dough in mounds of about 2 tablespoons each onto the baking sheet. (I like to bake in batches of 12, but these puffy cookies don't spread too much so you can certainly fit more on a standard baking sheet.)
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until the tops are lightly browned. Don't remove them early like you might for regular chocolate chip cookies.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a minimum of 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Makes 36-40 cookies.
Orange Drizzle
- Wait until the cookies have fully cooled to add the drizzle. If you are using a cooling rack to cool the cookies, move the cooling rack over a cool baking sheet to catch any extra drizzle.
- Microwave the salted butter for 20-30 seconds until it's melted but not separated.
- Add the powdered sugar, melted butter and 1 tablespoon of orange juice to a small bowl. Mix with a spoon until the consistency is smooth with no powdered sugar lumps. If you want a thinner consistency, add another tablespoon of orange juice.
- Drizzle the orange icing over the cookies using a spoon or a small decorator's bottle. Allow the drizzle to harden for a few minutes before stacking the cookies.
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