White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
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These white chocolate, cranberry, pistachio cookies feature the three traditional Christmas colors all wrapped into one incredibly delicious bite! The cranberries can also be substituted with dried cherries for a delicious variation.
White chocolate, cranberry and pistachio cookies…..the three traditional Christmas colors wrapped into one incredibly delicious bite! These buttery cookies feature white chocolate, sweet-tart cranberries, and slightly salty pistachio nuts. The flavors work together beautifully to bring you a delightful holiday treat that is a must-add to your Christmas “to bake” list. (Or use dried cherries in the “off season”).
I published this recipe back in 2013, the year I started this blog. That Christmas I was working on developing a cookie that captured the fun, flavor, and colors of the Christmas holiday. At the time my 3 year old asked if we could make some popcorn, and as I reached into the cupboard for the popcorn kernels I noticed a bag of pistachios. Their vibrant green color stood out to me and within a minute I had my Christmasy cookie conceptualized. And so my kids and I ate some popcorn while I whipped up a batch of these White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies.
They were the first thing my husband noticed when he came home. Todd claims he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth. But he’ll gobble up ice cream, Reese’s Pieces, pies, brownies, and cookies, to name a few. Kind of like, “I don’t really crave sweets…except for this and that…and that…and this…..” Yes dear, whatever you say, LOL :)
And so I made a batch of these cookies and no sooner did I exit the kitchen and walk back in again than several cookies were mysteriously missing. And then of course came that all-to-predictable comment, “Now you know I don’t really crave sweets…but these you can make any time!” I just smiled.
These cookies have gone viral over the years and have remained both a reader and a family favorite ever since that December back in 2013.
White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies Recipe
Let’s get started!
First cream the softened butter and the sugars. Beat for several minutes until fluffy and pale – this step is important to achieving the perfect texture.
Add the egg and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl sift the flour and baking soda. If you’re using unsalted pistachios, add 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Using a wooden spoon, carefully stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, just until combined.
Stir in the white chocolate chips, dried cranberries (or cherries) and pistachio nuts.
Drop heaping spoonfuls of the batter onto the greased cookie sheet.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they just begin to turn golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!
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For more delicious Christmas goodies be sure to try our:
- Kokosmakronen (German Coconut Macaroons)
- Zimtsterne(German Cinnamon Star Cookies)
- Vanillekipferl (Austrian Vanilla Crescent Cookies)
- Christmas Pudding (Figgy Pudding)
- Pfeffernüsse (German Iced Spiced Cookies)
- Mince Pies (English Mincemeat Pie)
- Lebkuchen (Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen)
- Stollen (German Christmas Bread)
- Panettone (Italian Christmas Bread)
- Springerle (German Embossed Cookies)
- Printen (Aachener Gingerbread)
- Pandoro (Verona Christmas Bread)
- Speculoos (Gingerbread Shortcrust Cookies)
- Bethmännchen (Marzipan Cookies)
- Heidesand (Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies)
- Marzipan (or Almond Paste)
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White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter , softened at room temperature
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon quality pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (note: the video mistakenly says baking powder)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped shelled pistachio nuts
- 1 cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries)
- Note: If using unsalted nuts add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a cookie sheet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy and pale in color, 3-5 minutes. This step is important for ensuring soft, chewy cookies. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a wooden spoon, carefully stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and pistachio nuts.
- Drop heaping spoonfuls of the batter onto the greased cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they just begin to turn golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet December 13, 2013
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
I just made 3 batches and ended up with about 8 dozen all uniform and they did spread out beautifully. I love that they are not extremely sweet and when you take a bite you do end up tasting the nuts, cherries and the white chocolate. This is a keeper! Happy Holidays! These are for a cookie exchange. I am a happy camper!!!!
Fantastic, Donna, thank you! I’m getting ready to make some more too – my husband and kids have been begging for them :)
I made these for the first time today for our church bake sale. They taste wonderful, but didn’t come out as pretty looking as your picture. Ours stayed in more of a lump shape and didn’t spread out. Any suggestions?
Hello the recipe calls for baking soda but the video says baking powder, please clarify thank you!
Hi Dee, it’s baking soda.
ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!!!! I have become addicted to these, they are seriously some of the best cookies I have ever eaten, THANK YOU!
Awesome, thank you, Natalie!
My dough came out really stiff in the end. I even made sure I mixed the butter and sugar for 3-5 min. Looked great then until I added the flour then it was impossible to mix it and then when it baked in the oven the inside wasn’t getting cooked I had to leave it in for ten more minutes and now the cookies are hard. What do you think happened?
Hi Dominique, this dough is very stiff but it certainly shouldn’t be impossible to mix it. It sounds like either too much flour or not enough butter was added. And yes, baking these for 20 minutes instead of 10 at 375F definitely will result in very hard cookies. There’s quite a bit of white chocolate in these cookies – perhaps what you thought wasn’t done inside was just the melted chocolate? Egg and flour cooks very quickly and after 10 minutes in that high of temperature these cookies are definitely done.
How sweet are these? I’m making 5x the original amount for my Christmas baking, and I was thinking of using 4 or 4 1/2 cups of sugar rather than 5 because I don’t want the white chocolate chips to push the sweetness over the edge. Thanks for any advice you can give!
Hi Lauren, I don’t really have a way to measure or convey the sweetness level but if you tend to prefer things slightly less sweet then yes, simply reduce the sugar a bit.
When I creamed the butter and added the two sugars the dough was dry looking is it suppost to be dry looking? I finished making them and my husband likes them. I did use my Kitchenaid mixer. I guess what I’m asking is the mixture suppost to look and fell dry?
Hi Sue, the butter needs to be at room temp and it needs to be “creamed” with the sugars, meaning it needs to be beaten for several minutes in order to the texture to be correct. All in all though yes, this is a thick and certainly not a “moist” cookie dough. It sounds like they turned out though in the end?
I’m about to give these a try using dried cherries instead of cranberries. I’m not heading out in this snowstorm! Wish me luck.
Dried cherries work perfectly, Janet, I use them in this recipe all the time, I just often cut them in half depending on how big they are. Happy baking!