How to make perfectly soft and buttery white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies for the holidays. Perfectly sweet and salty, scrumptious Christmas dessert that the whole family will love, and you can make it in 15 minutes or less!
I don’t know about you, but I love a good chocolate chip cookie. But these delicious white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies are a little bit more festive for the holidays, and they’re so easy to make.
The white chocolate chips paired with the nutty pistachios and sweet-tart cranberries give these cookies that colorful Christmas palette and the perfect balance between sweet and salty. You can double, triple or even quadruple this recipe to feed a crowd! Serve them up on a platter with all your favorite fantasy fudge and holiday cookie recipes, like hot cocoa cookies, Italian sugar cookies, mint chocolate crinkles, thumbprint cookies, cut-out sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, Christmas light cookies and butter almond snowball cookies.
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- Unsalted Butter – The secret to making pillowy soft and buttery, gooey cookies is in the butter. This recipe calls for unsalted butter, but you can use salted butter if that’s all you have on hand. When substituting salted butter for unsalted, be sure to reduce the actual salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon for every 1/2 cup of butter to account for the extra salt in the salted butter.
- Cane Sugar – I use real, unrefined cane sugar, but plain old white sugar works good too.
- Sea Salt – You can use any table salt, but I love the flavor and the “real” of Redmond Sea Salt.
- Vanilla Extract – While as you can use imitation vanilla in a pinch, try to find a 100% real vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour – The cheapest white all-purpose flour at your local grocery store works just fine for this recipe. You can also make these gluten-free white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies by using a good cup for cup gluten-free all-purpose flour instead. If you go this route, I recommend adding a little bit of xanthan gum to the flour, and be sure to check all of the other ingredients over to ensure that they are truly gluten free!
- Cranberries, Pistachios & Chocolate Chips – Dried cranberries and roasted pistachios work best. And just like my gluten free blondies recipe, I use white chocolate chips for a decorative touch!
How to Make White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
Before getting started, preheat your oven to 350ºF. You’ll want to shell and chop up the pistachios with a large knife, and I recommend lining a 13×9 baking sheet with parchment paper.
You’ll also want to pull your butter out ahead of time so that it has time to soften. Take care to let your butter cool to room temperature and no less. Using butter that is too warm can cause your cookies to fall flat while baking.
Mix Up the Cookie Dough
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer, start by beating the softened butter with a fork until fluffy.
- Next, add the sugar and salt, mixing ’til well combined and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating until well combined.
- Now, gradually add the flour a little bit at a time, mixing well.
- Finally, blend the dried cranberries and chopped pistachios into your cookie dough.
- Spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray, and then use the palm of your hands to roll the cookie dough into little balls. Place each cookie dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet.
How to Bake Cranberry Pistachio White Chocolate Cookies
Bake your white chocolate pistachio cookies for 8-10 minutes at 350ºF, or ’til the edges are set and slightly golden brown. Then transfer your them to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
Once your cookies have cooled completely, melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave, and drizzle the melted chocolate over all of your white chocolate cranberry pistachio cookies. Let them set for 5-10 minutes, or ’til the chocolate has hardened.
That’s it. Serve and enjoy with a cold glass of milk. they also go well with a piping hot cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
As I mentioned in the recipe instructions above, this is usually caused by using butter that is too warm. You want butter that is softened to about room temperature for this recipe, but no warmer. Any warmer, and your cookies will most likely fall flat while baking.
First of all, be sure not to over bake your cookies. Then, as soon as your cookies have cooled to room temperature and the frosting has hardened, you’ll want to transfer them to a Ziploc bag or airtight container. Another trick is to toss a slice of bread into your cookie jar. The moisture from the bread can help to keep your cookies from going hard and stale.
Although I don’t recommend freezing pre-baked cookies, you can form up and freeze the raw cookie dough balls before baking. Once you’ve rolled out your dough balls, first spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let them set uncovered in the refrigerator ’til firm. Transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container and into the freezer for up to 3 months. Then you can just bake your cookie dough any time, although you may have to add an extra few minutes to the bake time to make up for the colder starting temperature.
Recipe Variations
Looking for something a little different? Here are some ways you can switch this recipe up…
- For an extra touch of sweetness, try swapping out the dried cranberries with dried cherries!
- Don’t have any white chocolate chips on hand? It may not look quite as festive, but you can also use regular milk chocolate chips or even dark chocolate chips instead.
- You can also use chopped walnuts instead of pistachios in a pinch.
- Did you know that Jell-O makes a pistachio instant pudding mix? You can toss that right into the cookie dough for tons of extra flavor!
More Scrumptious Cookie Recipes for the Holidays
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies
- Homemade Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Ritz Crackers
White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 2/3 cup Cane Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Dried Cranberries chopped
- 1/2 cup Pistachios chopped
- 1 cup White Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Before getting started, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Be sure to chop up the pistachios and cranberries with a large knife, and then line a 13×9 baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the softened butter with a fork until fluffy.
- Next, add the sugar and salt to the butter, mixing 'til well combined and fluffy.
- Beat the egg and vanilla into the butter mixture 'til well combined.
- Now, gradually add the flour a little bit at a time, mixing until well combined.
- Finally, add your chopped cranberries and pistachios to the cookie dough, mixing well.
- Use the palm of your hand to roll the cookie dough into little balls, and place them onto the prepared cookie sheet. It helps to spritz some nonstick cooking spray onto your hands before you do this.
- Bake your white chocolate pistachio cookies for 8-10 minutes at 350ºF, or 'til the edges are set and slightly golden brown.
- Once they're fully baked, transfer your cookies to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.
- Once your cookies have cooled completely, melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave.
- Drizzle your cookies with the melted white chocolate, and let them set for 5-10 minutes, or 'til the chocolate is hardened.
- That's it. Serve and enjoy with a cold glass of milk!
