Adding a twist to the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie is as easy as swapping in a few ingredients - dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and walnut pieces - to create these festive, holiday-appropriate Cranberry Walnut Cookies.
For the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, I tweaked the OG Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe by leaving the chocolate chips out and tagging in white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and walnuts.
I could lie and tell you that these are "healthier" than your average chocolate chip cookie, but let's be real. Dried cranberries are fruity little sugar bombs. It's the holidays, enjoy a cookie or five.
2020 is almost over and 2021 looks like a promising year to lose that Covid-15. So with what's left of 2020, I say go ahead and indulge in these Cranberry Walnut Cookies. Looking for more holiday cookies? Check out these Coconut Mexican Wedding Cookies or these Hot Chocolate Cookies with Peppermint Bark.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Consistent, tested results. This recipe was adapted from the OG Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, so you can rest assured that the results are going to be very much like Nestle's classic chocolate chip cookies.
- Perfect for Fall and Winter holiday baking. These are perfect for fall and winter, bring them to Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers 🙂
- Loaded with goodies! These cookies are loaded with creamy white chocolate chips, tart dried cranberries, and luxurious walnuts. They are addicting, fair warning.
Ingredients
- Sugar - You will need both granulated sugar and light brown sugar here.
- Butter or shortening - These cookies are made with LOVE, aka butter.
- Eggs - Large eggs are needed here, not extra large. Just large :).
- Vanilla extract - Vanilla extract is classic here, but you could also use something similar like almond extract to play up the nuttiness of this cookie.
- Dry ingredients - Of course, flour, baking soda, and salt are the usual dry ingredient suspects here. No substitutions recommended here.
- White chocolate chips - I used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips, because fancy.
- Dried cranberries - I love I'm a Nut Dried Cranberries, so delicious. A lot of time dried cranberries have sugar added, but look for a reduced sugar version if you want to keep the total amount of sugar in check.
- Walnut pieces - I think Walnuts are a super festive nut, so I like using them here. But you could also use pecans, or sneak in some macadamia nuts instead.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below - keep scrolling!
If you like dried cranberries and walnuts together, you should also try this Cranberry Nut Cheese Ball.
How to Make Cranberry Walnut Cookies - Directions
- Add ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, and 1 cup shortening to a mixing bowl.
- Cream sugar and butter or shortening together with a hand mixer until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 large egg. Mix until combined.
- Add the second large egg and mix until combined.
- Combine 2 ¼ cups flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a separate bowl. Stir.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl methodically. I add the dry ingredients in four equal-ish additions. After each addition, mix until just combined with a hand mixer. Repeat until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in.
- Add 1 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup crushed walnuts (optional), and ½ cup dried cranberries to the mixing bowl, and mix by hand with a spoon until just combined.
- Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down tightly to the cookie batter to keep the air out.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies onto a baking sheet, leaving a generous amount of space between each (or however many will fit; I was able to fit 12 at a time on a large aluminum baking sheet).
- Bake for 11-12 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Remove each cookie with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Repeat until you've used up all of the dough. Makes 40 delicious and festive AF cookies.
Top Tips for the BEST Cranberry Walnut Cookies
Tip 1. Hot tip for moist cookies. Tuck a piece of bread in along with your cookies in a sealed container to keep 'em moist. For real-real, it works! And solves the age-old question of what to do with the butt of the bread loaf.
Tip 2. Chill the dough before baking. Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for 4 hours before baking. Refrigerating cookie dough helps firm up soft cookie dough and prevents cookies from over-spreading during baking. A trip to the fridge also gives the flavors in the cookie dough a chance to get acquainted.
Recipe FAQs
Store leftover white chocolate chip cranberry cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. To keep them soft, add a piece of bread to the container.
Once baked, these Walnut Cranberry Cookies are freezer-friendly. Add cookies to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. When you are ready to enjoy them, thaw the cookies on the counter and dive in once they've reached room temperature.
If you like these cookies, you might also like these sweet treats
If you tried this Cranberry Walnut Cookie recipe (or any other recipe on Midwexican), please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it turned out in the 📝 comments below!
Cranberry Walnut Cookies (with White Chocolate Chips)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup butter or shortening
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (Ghirardelli)
- 1 cup walnut pieces slightly crushed
- ½ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Add ¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, and 1 cup butter or shortening to a mixing bowl.¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup light brown sugar, 1 cup butter or shortening
- Cream sugar and butter or shortening together with a hand mixer until well combined, approximately 2 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 large egg. Mix until combined.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 large eggs
- Add the second large egg and mix until combined.
- Combine 2 ¼ cups flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda in a separate bowl. Stir.2 ¼ cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl methodically. I add the dry ingredients in four equal-ish additions. After each addition, mix until just combined with a hand mixer. Repeat until the dry ingredients are completely mixed in.
- Add 1 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup crushed walnuts, and ½ cup dried cranberries to the mixing bowl, and mix by hand with a spoon until just combined.1 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup walnut pieces, ½ cup dried cranberries
- Cover with plastic wrap, pushing the plastic wrap down tightly to the cookie batter to keep the air out.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies onto a baking sheet, leaving a generous amount of space between each (or however many will fit; I was able to fit 12 at a time on a large aluminum baking sheet).
- Bake for 11-12 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from oven and let sit on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Remove each cookie with a spatula and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Repeat until you've used up all of the dough. Makes 40 delicious and festive AF cookies.
barber2001 says
I actually came up with this idea also and then later looked on the net to see if anyone else did too....and yes!....I add about a cup of plain instant oats to mine because the white chocolate makes them too sweet for my taste plus adds some body to them so they are taller and stouter!
Christina Koncker says
Love the idea of adding instant oats! Thanks so much for sharing your variation 🙂