These Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are a fantastic holiday cookie! Make them for your next holiday party or easily make a batch as a gift.
Fantastic for friends
Let’s be honest...white chocolate is not my favorite. It’s often too sweet and doesn’t have the depth or bitterness good dark chocolate has.
Since that’s the case, you might be wondering why I would recipe develop these Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. That’s a great question because I’m not a huge fan of dried cranberries either. WTF is going on with this recipe then?
White chocolate plus cranberries in a buttery crumbly cookie...like this shortbread, go so well together. It’s a flavor combo I don’t realize I needed in my life until these cookies.
The reason I wrote this recipe is that I have a few friends who LOVE white chocolate. During the holidays and Christmas, it’s nice to make a delish treat that your friends will love, right? So I wrote this recipe for all of those white chocolate cranberry cookie lovers, and I ended up really liking the flavor combo myself! A win-win!
These Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are so good you’ll want to make them all year long, but they are best for the holidays. Especially when you’re hosting a cookie swap party and you know you’ll have guests who just love white chocolate!
Ingredients
Need an easy cookie recipe? This is it. It only has six ingredients and makes a bunch of cookies. Let’s chat about a few key ingredients and what you should look for when shopping.
The butter
Since there is A LOT of butter in these cranberry white chocolate shortbread cookies, you want to use something good! Now, if you’ve checked out my original Slice and Bake Shortbread Cookies you know that I strongly suggest using salted Kerrygold butter.
In this instance, you don’t need to spring for the gold (unless you want to!) because there are other mixins in the cookie, so the focus isn’t solely on the butter. I tend to use high quality salted organic butter when making these shortbread cookies and you can do that too!
You also may have noticed that you should use salted butter when making these cookies. There really isn’t much liquid in this dough, so if you were to add salt instead of using salted butter, it won’t dissolve super easily. You’ll run the risk of having odd, unintentional bites of salt in the cookies...not cute. If you use salted butter, the salt is already dissolved so you won’t run into that issue!
White chocolate
Use a white chocolate bar!
I don’t need to say more, but I will.
I really want you to use a good quality white chocolate bar. In bar form, the chocolate will be easier to chop up and make slicing of the cookie easier than if you choose to use white chocolate chips.
Also, if you check out the ingredients of a quality white chocolate bar vs big brand name white chocolate chips, you’ll see a big difference. The chips tend to have hydrogenated oil while a good bar chocolate won’t. Now I’m not saying this is always the case, but from my experience, you’ll find better quality white chocolate in bar form...meaning it will taste better than the chips!
Step-by-step instructions
Need some guidance on exactly how to make these shortbread cookies? These step-by-step photos along with the YouTube video will help you along the way!
Step 1: Cream the powdered sugar, vanilla and butter together.
Step 2: Add in the flour, cranberries, and white chocolate.
On low speed, beat it all together until it just comes together.
This is what it should look like!
Step 3: Turn the dough out onto the counter and form into two logs.
Wrap them up and chill!
Step 4: Slice them up and bake!
Step 5: Bake these glorious shortbread cookies until they are just slightly browning around the bottom edges.
Extra tips
Here are some tips to help you make these easy cookies ahead of time, store them properly, and even freeze them!
Can I freeze shortbread?
Yes, you can!!! Isn’t that great news?
You can freeze both the shortbread dough and the baked cookies.
When you want to freeze a batch of cranberry white chocolate shortbread cookie dough, I recommend making the dough up to chilling the dough. So, make the dough, roll it into two logs and chill it. Once it’s chilled and firm, you can pop it into an airtight container or freezer-safe bag and leave it frozen for up to three months.
When you’re ready to bake the frozen shortbread dough, let a log of dough thaw in the fridge overnight or just leave it at room for an hour or so...just long enough so you can slice it. Then all you have to do is follow the regular recipe instructions below!
As for freezing the baked cookies, I put them in an airtight container and place them into the fridge. I’ll pop a few out and, if I’m patient enough I’ll let them thaw on the counter before eating a few, thirty minutes is a good amount of time for them to thaw. Usually...I eat them frozen and I do like them that way!
You can freeze them up to a month like this. I’ve found that any longer they might get a little freezer burn and that’s not cute.
How far in advance can I make the dough?
If you know you want to serve these cookies for a party, but don’t have time the day of to make a batch, you are so in luck.
You can easily make the cookie dough up to three days before baking. Just follow the recipe as instructed and let the well-wrapped dough hang out in your fridge until you have time to bake them!
What's the best way to store them?
The best way to store any cookie, including shortbread cookies, is in an air-tight container.
You can do a fun tin if you’re making them as a gift for a holiday party or just a nice glass jar with an airtight lid is a good way to go.
Get baking!
Alight, it is time for you to jump into the kitchen and whip up a batch of these super easy cranberry white chocolate shortbread cookies.
When you do, make sure to leave a comment below letting me know how much you and your friends love them!
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!
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