‘Tis the season for cool mornings, warm coffee, and one of my other winter favorites — Cranberry Bliss season at Starbucks!
If any of you have ever tried their heavenly cranberry bliss bars laced with white chocolate and cranberries, you know the reason why these treats fly off the pastry shelves each day. So for my fall baking season this year, I decided to experiment and try translating this favorite into a cookie. Hence the name, “Cranberry Bliss Cookies”!
I started with one of my favorite chewy cookie bases, filled with lots of vanilla, white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Then topped it with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with more cranberries, and drizzled with more white chocolate. I mean seriously — what’s not to love?!?
Sure enough, they were nothing short of heavenly. Quite sweet, but the extra tart of the cream cheese and cranberries gives just the perfect tart touch to leave you craving just one more. Perfect for dessert, or even a morning treat with your coffee. And definitely…blissful. :)
Cranberry Bliss Cookies
Ingredients
For The Cookies:
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
For The Frosting:
- 1 (8 oz.) bar cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract, store-bought or homemade
- 2 cups powdered sugar
For The Topping:
- 1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave or double-boiler
Instructions
To Make The Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt until well-blended. Set aside.
- Using an an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating in between to incorporate. Add the vanilla, then reduce the speed to low, and slowly add in the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium, and continue beating until well-combined. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries, and mix until just-combined. (Do not overmix.)
- Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. Then place dough by rounded tablespoon-fulls onto a baking sheet that has been prepared with parchment paper, at least 2.5-inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges. Remove pan, and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack until cool. Repeat with remaining dough until all cookies are baked. Wait until cookies reach room temperature before adding frosting and toppings.
To Make The Frosting:
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and melted white chocolate until combined. (**Be sure that your cream cheese REALLY is at room temperature before adding the white chocolate. Otherwise the chocolate could seize up.) Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. Then reduce speed to low and add the powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated. Then use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat once more for 1 minute on medium speed until the frosting is smooth. You can add more powdered sugar for a thicker frosting.
- Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies. Then immediately sprinkle the frosted cookies with the chopped dried cranberries. And use a fork to drizzle on the frosting, swishing it back and forth over the cookies.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
These are delicious cookies. I don’t care for white chocolate so I added toasted pecans instead. Also I used dark brown sugar so mine came out darker than your’s but still had a very lovely flavor. I didn’t make the frosting but did drizzle white candy melts over the top. Thanks for this. I’m not very adventurous when it comes to cookie recipes…kinda a chocolate chip girl….so I am very happy that these came out so well. I will definitely try more of your recipes.?
Thanks, Tomeika, we’re so happy you enjoyed them! :)
These are my go to Christmas cookies! Everyone loves them and people always ask me for the recipe. I just finished making 150 of them for Christmas presents this year. Thank you again for sharing such a fantastic recipe!
Thanks for sharing Kasia, we’re happy they’re a hit! We hope you have a wonderful Christmas! :)
My daughter’s girl scout troop is making cookie baskets for the firefighters who work on Christmas. Could I make these ahead of time and freeze them? (I already know how delicious they are because I made them last year!!!)
That’s so sweet Abby, and we think these should freeze fine! :)
Hi Ali, These cookies look delicious! I wanted to let you know that they will be in a Christmas Cookie Roundup on my blog this week with a linkback to your site for the recipe. Happy Holidays! Joan-MyCookieClinic
Hi Joan, thank you, we hope you enjoy them! And thanks for the shout out on your b log, we’ll have to look for that roundup! :)
Sounds delicious! Pinning it now and will definitely be baking these next week, thanks for sharing!
Thanks Yvonne, we hope you enjoy these! :)
Wow…these cookies look amazing! At Thanksgiving I am featuring a cookie roundup and this recipe will be one of them for sure!
Awesome, thank you so much! :)
Looks YUMMY, but Starbucks has ginger in them. Gonna add it before I bake these.
Good to know, we think that would be a yummy addition! :)
The one I tried yesterday had orange in it, not ginger. Like ginger, orange is a flavor that will definitely be missed. I’m not sure how to add it.
Just tried these and they turned out wonderfully! Thank you for such a great recipe
These look soo delicious..definitely going in my baking lineup. One question..Do these need to be refrigerated??
These turned out so well! They are beautiful cookies and really taste like the cranberry bliss at Starbucks. I think I’ll make them smaller next time since they are so rich. But, wow, they are good. Now I just have to make sure to avoid eating them until Tuesday, when I’m taking them to a church function!