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The specks of red and white in these Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies bring joy and merriment to every holiday celebration. So buttery, tart, and sweet, these Christmas cookies are perfect for parties, cookie exchanges, and Santa!
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A Christmas cookie that’s merry and bright
While these Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are delicious year-round, I think they’re one of the best Christmas cookies. Classic buttery shortbread cookies are mixed with dried cranberries and white chocolate to not only speckle them with traditional Christmas colors but flavors as well!
If you didn’t know already, dried cranberries and white chocolate happen to be a perfect pairing. Cranberries can sometimes be overly tart on their own, but the sweet and buttery white chocolate helps to tone this down and add balance to every bite.
Whip up a batch of these cranberry and white chocolate cookies for cookie exchanges, gifting, or to put out for Santa! They, along with my Eggnog Shortbread, would be a great fit for any holiday celebration.
Christmas shortbread cookie ingredients
This easy Christmas cookie recipe has 6 simple ingredients and makes a whole bunch of cookies. What could be better?
Salted butter
Wanna know the secret to deliciously soft shortbread? Butter!
Salted butter is key in this easy shortbread recipe because of the lack of moisture in the dough. Unlike lemon cupcakes or chocolate chunk candy cane cookies, making shortbread dough with salted butter means you don’t have to add the salt on its own. If you use unsalted butter and add salt, your cookies would likely be overly salty.
Powdered sugar
Making white chocolate cranberry shortbread cookies with powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar ensures they turn out light, soft, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. If you were to use granulated sugar, the granules wouldn’t fully dissolve in the dough because there’s so little moisture.
Vanilla
Vanilla extract is needed to bring a warm flavor and balance to the shortbread. If you’re a big fan of vanilla and want to give these cookies an impeccable flavor, swap the extract for vanilla bean paste instead.
All purpose flour
A few cups of all purpose flour will bring the cookie dough together and leave you with light and airy cookies.
Dried cranberries
This tart and sweet raisin-like garnish is so perfect in shortbread! Don’t swap them for fresh cranberries or else there will be way too much liquid in the batter and cookies.
White chocolate
White chocolate and shortbread are so good together. Both are buttery, sweet, and rich.
Now, the true question is, “Should I make these cookies with a white chocolate bar or white chocolate chips?” Please, for the sake of delicious flavors, use a high quality white chocolate bar.
The best white chocolate is made with a short list of ingredients, the most important being cocoa butter. According to Cook’s Illustrated, most big brand white chocolate chips “contain no cocoa butter and thus can’t be labeled ‘chocolate’”. For this recipe, chopping up a white chocolate bar is best.
How to make cranberry white chocolate shortbread cookies
These slice and bake shortbread cookies are really easy to put together, can be made ahead of time, and can even be left in the freezer for months. Any home baker can master this recipe in a few simple steps:
Step 1: Cream the powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter together.
Step 2: Add in the flour, cranberries, and white chocolate. Slowly beat it all together until it looks crumbly.
Step 3: Turn the dough out onto the counter and form it into two logs.
Wrap each log up in plastic and leave them to chill in the fridge.
Step 4: Slice up the cookies into rounds, then bake!
Step 5: You’ll know the cookies are ready when they’re just slightly brown around the bottom edges.
Frequently asked questions
Because it’s too dry! If you’re having a hard time forming the dough into a ball, add a little more butter or a few drops of water to add more moisture.
Chilling the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours will prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven.
Shortbread cookies can be stored in an airtight container or sealed tin at room temperature for about a week.
Absolutely! Both the baked and unbaked white chocolate and cranberry shortbread cookies can be frozen:
To freeze unbaked: Wrap the 2 dough logs in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Once it’s chilled and firm, transfer the dough to an airtight container or freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
To freeze baked cookies: Wait for the cookies to cool completely. Transfer them to an airtight container or freezer-safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
The shortbread cookie dough can be made up to 3 days before baking. Just wrap the dough logs in plastic and keep them in the fridge until it’s time to slice and bake.
Recipe
Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
- 6 ounces white chocolate bar, chopped
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until it just becomes light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Add flour, cranberry, and white chocolate. On low speed, beat until the dough just starts to come together, about 3 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together to form a log. Divide the dough in half and form each piece of dough into a 7-inch log. Wrap in parchment paper and chill for at least 2 hours, up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Slice each log into ¼ to ¾-inch slices and evenly space on the baking sheets. You should have about 40 cookies.
- Bake until the bottom edges of the cookies just start to brown, 14-16 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool and serve!
Watch the Video!
Nutrition
Other Recipes you might like!
Winter Chz Board - Great for the holidays! Slice & Bake Shortbread - A classic! Baked Brie w/Fig Jam - A crowd pleaser!
Lana says
Can I use white chocolate chips instead of the bars?
Michelle Weiner says
Great Q! I have not tried these with white chocolate chips, but Bunnie left a comment saying that they did use white chocolate chips and it worked well! Feel free to give it a go!
Bunnie says
These shortbread cookies are delicious I used white chips instead of white bark you will not be disappointed great flavor and taste
Michelle Weiner says
Yay! I am so glad you enjoyed them and that the white chocolate chips worked great! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Carolyn says
Hello
I froze the unbaked dough. Do I let it thaw in the fridge or on the counter before I bake?
Michelle Weiner says
Hi! I apologize for not getting to you sooner! Yes, thaw the dough in the fridge before baking!
rj says
hi - instead of rolling the dough into a log, could i just scoop the dough into small balls and bake like cookies?
Michelle Weiner says
Great question!
This dough is pretty crumbly. If you don't want to roll it into a log, you can try scooping it and baking like cookies, but you will need to press the dough down so it is in one even layer.
The dough doesn't really spread like a normal cookie dough, so the shape will stay how it is scooped it after it's baked.
I honestly have not tried scooping it, but the above is my educated guess as to what would happen.
I do recommend you try the recipe as is, but if you want to go for the scoop method, please let me know how it works!
Thanks for the comment and I hope you enjoy these cookies!
Joan says
It looks like you are using 2 full sticks of butter, but you said 1 cup and the recipe also said 1 cup. I followed the recipe and my dough is soo dry and crumby I don't think it will slice after chilling. Help:)
Michelle Weiner says
Hi Joan!
Yes, you need to use 2 sticks of butter. 1 cup of butter equals 2 sticks!
If you get another stick of butter at room temp, beat it until it is light and fluffy and then mix it into the dough, it should work.
Please let me know if you need more help!
Joan says
Hi Thanks for reply. Two 2/1 hours later the logs are as hard as rocks, and just crumble. (I did use the correct amount of butter, my butter comes shaped different) I doubled the recipe so have lots of wasted ingredients. Can I use the rolls for something else by adding something?
Michelle Weiner says
I am so so sorry that it didn't turn out for you.
My best suggestion is to crumble and then press the dough into a baking pan lined with parchment, making sure the dough is no more than 1/2-inch thick, then bake at the time and temp the recipe calls for. Let it cool completely and then take it out of the baking pan and cut into pieces. It will still probably be very crumbly, but you hopefully will end up with something edible.
Anne-Marie Jordan says
Thanks for letting me know.
I made the biscuits and they were delicious. A total winner.
Will be making these shortbread biscuits as part of the goody bags I make for all my team mates during the last week of work, before we break for the Xmas summer holidays.
Michelle Weiner says
This is so great to hear! Thanks so much for making them and sharing that you enjoyed it!
Anne-marie. says
I'm looking forward to making these this weekend as a test run for Xmas. One query I have tho is that altho the ingredients convert into metric, the rest of the recipe remains in Imperial measurements - inches and Fahrenheit. Why does this not convert at the same time to cm and Celsius? Is there some glitch with the set up of your website?
Thanks.
Michelle Weiner says
So excited for you to make this recipe Anne-Marie!
Unfortunately the software that I use only automatically converts the ingredients, it doesn't apply to the instructions. You'll have to convert that part on your own. I'll put a note in with the software provider to see if that is a feature they can add in for the future.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Ashley says
These were my favourite out of all the Christmas cookies I made this year! So delicious, and very pretty as well. Thank you!
Michelle Ferrand says
Ashley!!! You are so welcome! I'm glad this recipe brought you joy this year!