High Altitude White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies

These High Altitude White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies tastes like the holidays! White chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and orange zest make a deliciously balanced combination of flavors.

These High Altitude White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies are soft and chewy. Packed full of flavor and are a must for your cookie rotation during the fall and winter. Sweet white chocolate, a splash of citrus and tart cranberry make a festive combo.

These cookies are made from my classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for High Altitude made with a couple of substitutions. This recipe can be altered further to suit your perfect preference. Chilling isn't even necessary for this recipe to have delicious cookies every time under an hour.

Why You'll Love this Recipe

No Chilling Required - While you CAN chill the dough to develop the flavor even more it is not required. Make these High Altitude White Chocolate Cranberry Orange Cookies right when you want them and under an hour.

Festive and Perfect for the Winter Season - These cookies has a touch of red from the dried cranberry. That combined with the white chocolate chips makes these adorably festive for Christmas and the Holiday season. These will be the unexpected favorite at your next cookie exchange!

Loaded with Texture and Flavor - These cookies are not your traditional chocolate chip. Instead there are so many different textures and flavors for you to enjoy. The sweetness of the white chocolate chips, the chewiness of the cookies, tart and tangy dried cranberries and a burst of citrus from the orange zest. Pistachios or walnuts can be added for texture.

Ingredient Notes

Unsalted Butter - I use unsalted so we can control the amount of salt. The butter adds richness and results in a delicious buttery cookie.

Sugar - I use dark brown and granulated sugar to give us just the right amount of sweetness and chewiness. I like dark brown sugar for its robust taste and it also reacts with the baking soda.

Eggs - bind the cookie dough, add moisture, and adds richness. 

Flour - I always use all-purpose flour. Just make sure to measure the flour correctly.

Salt - I prefer to use kosher or fine sea salt in my recipes.

Vanilla Extract - I recommend using a nice vanilla extract. You can also use vanilla bean paste. Alternatively, you could half vanilla and half orange extract for a stronger orange flavor.

Baking Soda - it's our only leavening agent in these cookies. It reacts with the acidic molasses in the dark brown sugar. Which can result in a higher rise than using a light brown sugar.

White Chocolate Chips - you can substitute with white chocolate chunks, or chopped up white chocolate bars for a more rustic look.

Oranges - used navel oranges. The zest adds so much citrus flavor that helps balance the fudge.

Dried Cranberries - I used orange flavored dried cranberries for the extra flavor which I buy from Sprouts. However, you could use just regular dried cranberries.

Substitutions

Dried Cranberries... try dried cherries or dried apricots.

Add Nuts...Pistachios would be a fun way to add a pop of green to the cookies while offering another textural layer to the cookies. You just want all your mix-ins add up to two cups total. Alternative nut options could be walnuts or almonds.

Vanilla Extract....you could use half vanilla extract and half orange extract to add more citrus flavor to the cookies.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While it's preheating, in a large mixing bowl, beat melted butter, room temperature butter, orange zest, and both sugars until completely creamed together ~ 2-3 minutes.

2. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, beat until combined together.

3. Add in kosher salt, baking soda, and all purpose flour. Beat until just combined. It's okay if there are a few streaks of flour.

4. Add in white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Use a silicone spatula to fold the mix ins into the batter until it's fully combined.

5. Scoop cookie dough using a 2.8 tablespoons or 1.4 ounces scoop onto a silicone mat lined on a baking sheet. Leave about a couple inches between each cookie. Top each cookie dough ball with a couple more chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

6. Bake for 11 - 13 minutes in a pre-heated oven. Cool cookies on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Enjoy warm or move the cookies to a cooling rack to cool until room temperature.

Expert Tips

Properly Measure Flour: If you just dip your measuring cup into a bag of flour, chances are you have way too much flour due to packing. I keep a small digital scale to accurately measure flour BUT you can also you the spoon and level method too if you don't have a scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour within your flour bag or container. Then use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and finally us the straight edge of a knife to level the flour across the measuring cup.

Dark brown sugar > light brown sugar: I like dark brown sugar because of the robust flavor and how chewy it makes the cookies but its also key to activating the baking soda.

Don’t over bake! The cookies should still be slightly soft in the center, they’ll firm up as they cool. Baking at high altitude can result in a paler looking product so don't let that defer you from keeping the cookies in the oven longer.

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