White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

White chocolate and cranberry is a classic combination and the sweetness with the caramel tasting cookie dough from a brown sugar base, makes these cookies melt-in-the-mouth delicious.

They're easy to make and are great to make with little ones, as I did this weekend. 

You can make big or small cookies and you can also freeze the dough if you don't want to use it all up at once, I always use the lot as the cookies can keep for up to a week in a sealed container; they never do though.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

Here's how:
150g salted butter
170g brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp baking powder
240g plain flour
2 tsp vanilla
150g white chocolate
100g dried cranberries

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a couple of baking sheets or roasting tins with greaseproof paper. 

Now cream together the brown sugar and softened butter (if the butter's been in the fridge, cut into cubes and microwave for a few seconds until soft, but not completely melted) with a wooden spoon. 

Once well combined, crack in the eggs and add the vanilla too and mix well.

Now sieve in the plain flour and baking powder and mix well. The dough/batter will probably be quite thick at this point, so add the milk a little at a time to loosen up. You may not need 2 tbsp or you may need a little more. 

Once you're happy with the consistency, throw in the cranberries, retaining a few. Now roughly chop the white chocolate into thick chunks and throw most of that into the bowl too, again retaining a few bits, and mix well. 

Now take a tablespoon and roughly fill with the dough, then place onto the baking sheet, you may need another spoon to gently push the dough off. Leave plenty of space around each cookie, I usually fit 5-6 on a normal sized baking sheet. Once they are all on, dot a couple of pieces of white chocolate and a cranberry on the top of each little mound of dough.

Place into the centre of the oven and cook for 10-11 minutes, then remove and leave to stand on the baking sheet for five minutes. At this point they will be soft to the touch; but they will harden a little as they cool. Gently remove them with an egg slice (I find this works best) and place onto a wire rack or board to cool completely. Then repeat the process until all of the cookies are baked. Enjoy!

If you're looking for more biscuit inspiration here are five more fab recipes you might like :

Monte Carlo Biscuits
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Hobnobs
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

If like us, you’re absolutely embracing the chance to bake at home and enjoy the spoils of your labour; then these gorgeous Chocolate Chunk Cookies are an absolute winner.

I made these with the girls a couple of weeks back, using up some of the leftover Easter chocolate and they devoured them. They are a little thicker in texture than say the Mini Egg Cookies, but this makes them a great choice for desserts too; ice cream sandwich, or just served with some ice cream, or crumbled into a sundae dish, topped with ice cream and some chocolate sauce.

The below makes about 18-20 cookies so they should last a few days if kept in an airtight container. 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Here’s how:

• 220g butter
• 300g brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 320g self-raising flour
• 75g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk
• 100g white chocolate
• 100g dark or plain chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line 2-3 baking trays or oven dishes and set aside.

In a mixing bowl first add the butter, if this isn’t already at room temperature, blast in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften down.

Add the sugar and cream together with a spoon until all combined. Crack the eggs into the mixing bowl with the vanilla extract and mix well.

Now sift in the cocoa powder, baking powder and self-raising flour, a little at a time. It might help to first measure out into a separate bowl.

Keep mixing until you have added all of the dry ingredients and you should have a fairly thick cake batter. At this point, add the milk to loosen and thin out a little and mix well.

If using chocolate chips, add these to the cake batter. I prefer to use bars of block chocolate to get the real chunks, that are so delicious in these types of cookies. Break up all the pieces and chop into 3-4 pieces per square then add to the cake batter.

Once combined and the chocolate is well spread out amongst the batter, use a tablespoon to spoon out a mound of batter and pop straight onto the baking sheet. You should leave plenty of space around each mound of batter, as this will flatten a little and spread during baking. Repeat until you have no more than x5-6 on each baking sheet.

Now place into the oven and bake for 13 minutes exactly. Then remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking trays. They will, at this point be quite soft still, but they will harden up a little.

Now use a fish slice to carefully remove the cookies and place onto a wooden board, or a wire rack to cool down. 

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Then repeat the process with the remaining cookie dough.

These cookies can also be frozen, they will take a couple of hours to defrost and are great for taking on picnics or family outings once we are out of lockdown. Enjoy!

If you love biscuits with your families here are four other biscuit recipes you may enjoy:

Monte Carlo Biscuits

Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

Chocolate Hobnobs

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies

Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

I absolutely love the annual onslaught of Easter and all the chocolatey goodness that comes our way since having children but I'm very nervous about Mini Eggs or any other solid chocolate eggs of that shape and size because of the obvious choking risk.

We came up with these cookies last year in order to allow my girls to enjoy the Mini Eggs that were bought for them without me panicking about any choking risk. 

The cookie mixture is a recipe I use loads and is always well-received, you could always up the chocolate chips instead, or add raisins and oats instead. 

Bridget and Beatrice enjoyed making these this morning and enjoyed eating a couple straight after baking even more. I adore cooking with my girls - it's a fun, educational and sensory experience. 

Whatever your plans this Easter have a fabulous long weekend.

Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

Here's how:

Ingredients:

• 150g salted butter, room temperature
• 85g brown sugar
• 85g granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp cocoa (I use Green & Black's)
• 240g plain flour
• 100g milk chocolate
• Mini Eggs (80g bag) 

Method:

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees and line a couple of baking trays with grease-proof paper.

If cooking with children, I tend to do the chopping etc. first - so I would at this stage chop the Mini Eggs in half or thirds and chop the chocolate bar into chunky pieces.

Now measure the butter and sugars and add to a mixing bowl and cream together with a wooden spoon.

Bridget and Beatrice making Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

Bridget and Beatrice making cookies

Once well combined, add the egg and vanilla and mix well. 

Now add the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and the milk and again, mix well. 

Once you have achieved a good cookie dough consistency, add the chocolate chunks - but not the Mini Eggs. (If the cookie dough is too clunky or dry add a little extra milk a drop at a time until you are happy). 

Now use a couple of tablespoons to scoop out the cookies - you will need to do in a couple of batches, so don't be tempted to pack them on too tightly on the baking trays. Use about a heaped tablespoon in a round and place 5-6 on each,  try to keep them well spaced apart. You don't need to press them down or anything just leave in a round.

Place them into the oven for four minutes, by which time they will have spread out a little, and then remove and carefully place the Mini Eggs into each cookie 2-3 pieces  per cookie, with the coloured side up. 

Return to the oven and cook for a further 8 minutes. 

Easter Cookies with Mini Eggs

Remove from the oven and place onto a wire rack or board to cool. Enjoy!