These White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are the perfect combination of chewy and crunchy. If you’re looking for a delicious cookie to make for a Christmas party, cookie swap, or just to enjoy over the holidays – you have to make these Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies!
Christmas is right around the corner and it’s time to start baking all our favorite holiday cookies. If you love dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, you’re going to love these Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. These cookies combine dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts with a delicious sugar cookie dough – what’s not to love about that?
Cranberries are one of my favorite ingredients to use this time of year. The sweet & slightly tart dried cranberries combines wonderfully with the white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts add a little crunch to these delicious cookies. The dough gets made and frozen for one hour, and then baked to perfection creating a delicious cookie that everyone will love.
Ingredients for Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Butter – I like to use unsalted butter in this recipe and make sure it’s at room temperature
- Vegetable shortening – Adds a little more fat to the cookie and makes them crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
- Brown sugar – Makes cookies moister and chewier than just using white sugar.
- Sugar – You can’t make cookies without sugar!
- Eggs – I recommend using eggs that are at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract – Adds extra flavor.
- Flour – I used all purpose flour for these cookies.
- Baking soda – Helps the cookies rise and keeps them from getting hard.
- Salt – enhances the sweetness and results in a better flavored cookie.
- White chocolate chips – Can also use a white chocolate bar chopped into small pieces
- Craisins (dried cranberries) – These are found next to the raisins in the grocery store.
- Macadamia nuts – Chopped into small pieces.
How to Make Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
First, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix just until beaten but not fully incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips, craisins, and nuts.
Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, it’s okay if they are close together, then place them in the freezer to chill for 1 hour.
Arrange the chilled cookie dough balls 2-inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (keep remaining dough balls in the freezer until ready to bake) and bake until the edges are golden brown and the center is still soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to use vegetable shortening?
If you do not want to use vegetable shortening, you can definitely still make these delicious cookies. Swap the shortening for butter and make these cookies with one cup of butter.
Why should I use room temperature eggs?
Baking with room temperature eggs allows them to mix better with other ingredients. Room temperature eggs mix better with the batter and rise more easily. To bring your eggs to room temperature, sit them on the counter for no more than two hours. If you’re in a hurry, place whole eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes or until they are no longer chilled. Make sure the water isn’t too hot because you don’t want to accidentally cook the eggs in the water.
Do I have to use macadamia nuts?
Having a hard time finding macadamia nuts in the store? Don’t stress! You can easily substitute them in this cookie recipe. I would recommend using cashews, pecans or walnuts. These cookies will also taste great without nuts. If someone you know is allergic to nuts, just leave them out of the recipe.
Do I have to refrigerate the dough?
Yes, this cookie dough needs to be chilled before baking. This will prevent the cookies from spreading resulting in a thick, chewy cookie. Cookies made with chilled dough bake more evenly and are much more flavorful.
Can I make the dough ahead of time and freeze it?
To freeze dough, freeze on the baking sheet for one hour then transfer the balls to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
How should I store these cookies?
To store baked cookies, let cookies cool completely. Once they have cooled, add cookies to an airtight container and store at room temperature. Fun tip – to keep these cookies soft, tuck a slice of white sandwich bread inside the container. The moisture in the bread will keep the the cookies soft.
More Delicious Cranberry Recipes
If you love cranberries as much as I do, I think you’ll love these recipes:
Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Print RecipeThese White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are the perfect combination of chewy and crunchy. If you’re looking for a delicious cookie to make for a Christmas party, cookie swap, or just to enjoy over the holidays – you have to make these Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup craisins
- 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate bowl cream together butter, shortening, and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix just until beaten but not fully incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Fold in the white chocolate chips, craisins, and nuts.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, it’s okay if they are close together, then place them in the freezer to chill for 1 hour.
- Arrange the chilled cookie dough balls 2-inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (keep remaining dough balls in the freezer until ready to bake) and bake for 9 to 12 minutes just until the edges are golden brown and the center is still soft.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If you’re not baking immediately, you can chill the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
- To freeze dough, freeze on the baking sheet for one hour then transfer the balls to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Do not over mix these cookies or they will turn out really crispy.
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