Looking for a new way to use up your extra cranberries? Cranberries get an upgrade in these brown butter cookies that are loaded with rich dark chocolate chunks.
I have to tell you, these cookies surprised me! They are so much better than I even expected. Tart cranberries, rich dark chocolate (a lot of it) and chewy brown butter cookie dough work together pretty perfectly.
The idea came about because I have a giant bag of cranberries in my fridge. Thanks to Costco, it is less expensive to buy about one billion pounds of cranberries than it is to buy one pound. Well, something like that. The first thing I made with them was pie (recipe coming soon). That barely made a dent! This past weekend I made my winter fruit crisp but still, SO many cranberries.
Anyway, I thought throwing the fresh cranberries into a cookie would be a fun treat for the holiday season. I was so right. Not only do these cookies taste amazing (and are um, addicting), but they also look pretty too. The pop of fuchsia is a nice addition to your typical cookie plate. Make these cookies for Thanksgiving, Christmas or your next cookie swap. Oh, and probably double the batch. You will want extras.
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup / 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1⅞ ounces (~1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 5½ ounces (~2/3 cup) packed light brown sugar
- 1 x-large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 ounces (~1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces (~1 cup) dark chocolate chunks
- 3 ounces (~3/4 cup) fresh cranberries, washed and dried
- Brown the butter: Heat butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, when butter turns to an amber/light brown color, remove from heat immediately (You should be able to smell the deeper more caramel flavor of the butter) pour browned butter immediately into a small bowl and set aside to cool
- Once butter has cooled, place in the large bowl of an electric mixer with sugars; beat on high speed until well combined
- Add egg and vanilla, mix on medium speed until well mixed
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; slowly add to wet ingredients with mixer on low speed; do not over mix
- Slowly stir in chocolate chunks and cranberries
- Chill dough for 24 hours for best results (minimum of 2 hours) before baking
- When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 325 degrees; line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
- Scoop cookie dough with large cookie dough scoop (~3 tablespoons) on to prepared baking sheets (note it is normal for cookie dough to be very hard, you can let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes prior to scooping)
- Bake cookies until firm: 17-19 minutes or until edges are golden brown and cranberries have popped
- Allow to cool before serving
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I love that these cookies use fresh cranberries! They look and sounds really delicious.
Thanks so much, Amy!
I seriously love these so much!
Thank you, Rachel!!
These look amazing! And I also have a giant bag of cranberries from costco that need a good home. Cookies it is!
Yes you need to try them:-) Let me know if you do!
These look so pretty, I love the bright magenta of the cranberries. Love that you’ve used fresh and also love the addition of dark chocolate, my favourite. Looking forward to the pie you mention.
Thanks so much, Laura!
Love that you used fresh cranberries. Great cookie for the holidays! I may need to make these for a cookie exchange I bet they’d be a hit!
These look amazing.
Fresh cranberries are definitely under used in baking – love the flavour combination in these cookies!
GENIUS. Did you have to chop the cranberries before adding them to the dough? Thanks for the inspiration! I think a tablespoon of organic orange zest would liven them up, too.
I didn’t have to chop them at all, so easy! I love the idea of adding fresh orange zest, that would really make them pop. Let me know if you try them that way.
I have a ton of fresh cranberries to use up too – same reason, those warehouse bags are so cheap and hard to resist! I can’t wait to try these, such a good combination of flavors!
I’m so used to baking with dried cranberries – but really want to try fresh cranberries too. These look delicious. Especially with the brown butter!
These look like the perfect christmas cookie! I love cranberries at this time of year and would love one of these with my morning cup of tea!
Thanks so much, Jenny!
I definitely would have been wary to put fresh cranberries in cookies but now I’m totally intrigued! That sweet tart juiciness must be awesome.
Lauren, the brown butter base of your cookies sounds fantastic…plus I love the surprise of fresh cranberries! So pretty and festive.
Thanks, Liz!
Could you use dried cranberries? It’s just what I currently have in the house. :)
Yummy cookies. Looks great. :) :)
G’day! Love the flavor combination, true!
Wish I could try one right now too!
Cheers! Joanne
Viewed as part of Helene’s Christmas Cookie Collection 2013
This looks great! Such a funny coincidence to find this combination, since I just made some tasty mandelbrot with chocolate chips and dried cranberries. Never thought about trying cookies with fresh ones!
Just made these. I’ve made alot of chocolate chip cookies. These are some of the best I’ve ever made. Perfectly sweet, salty, tart, chewy and crispy edged. I could taste the browned butter. Followed the recipe very closely, minor addition of some coconut oil because I was a little low on butter. I also used 1/3 whole wheat to 2/3 white flour and sifted them both. Couldn’t even taste the small amount of ‘healthier.’
Thank you for the comment, I’m so happy to hear that! I’m also glad the adjustments that you made worked out. That is one of my favorite cookie recipes so I’m glad that you enjoyed them so much.
Thought I’d let you know that I baked these today for a bake-off for my husbands work. Well, I won 1st price!!! Some of the comments were “they touched my heart” and “they changed my life”. Thank you!!!
I am so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for letting me know. Happy holidays!
You say to use dark chocolate. Is unsweetened okay? I wasn’t sure.
These are the absolute best cookies I have been making them for the past 3 years for Thanksgiving and Christmas and everyone always loves them. Thank you !!!
I’m so happy to hear that, thank you!
I just made this recipe and the dough dry and clumpy–doesn’t stick together. Is that normal? Are you sure 1-1/2 cups of flour is 7 ounces? I used 1-1/2 cups of flour–was that TOO much? I put the cranberries in the bowl with the clumpy dough to see what happens overnight because I didn’t want to waste my expensive chocolate if recipe is NOT right! Glad I only made a single recipe and didn’t double it like you said people may want to! Tomorrow I will mash some of the clumps together and bake a cookie and see what happens and if it turns out, I will add chocolate and bake the rest. If someone else can tell me how their dough came out, I’d appreciate it!
Is your dough too hard from the fridge? If that is the case, let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before scooping!