Easy dairy-free cranberry white chocolate cookies are a soft, delicious treat with a perfect tart and sweet combination for amazing flavor. A simple recipe made without milk or butter.
Dairy-free Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies combine the rich flavor of sweet white chocolate chips with the bright punch of tart dried cranberries, creating an amazingly flavorful sweet-and-tart contrast, but without milk or butter in the ingredients.
And you don’t need any complex equipment or specialty ingredients—just simple pantry ingredients to create soft, bakery-quality cookies right at home.
These cookies hold up nicely for several days in a closed container and freeze really well for weeks!
While they pair well with coffee, tea, or cold milk, they’re also terrific for people avoiding dairy.
And they make perfect holiday cookies.
And cranberries have nutritional value!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for cranberry white chocolate cookies
Can I use regular butter if I am not dairy-free?
Yes, if you do not need the recipe to be dairy-free, you can substitute standard dairy butter in equal amounts.
What kind of white chocolate chips should I use?
Since this recipe is dairy-free, you want to use dairy-free or vegan white chocolate chips, because standard white chocolate chips typically contain milk solids.
How do I store oatmeal cranberry white chocolate cookies?
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 to 4 days, or place them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh for up to a week.
Can I freeze these cookies?
Yes, these cookies freeze exceptionally well. Store baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 2 to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.
Can I use fresh cranberries instead of dried cranberries?
No, fresh cranberries contain too much moisture and are too tart for this recipe. Stick to dried cranberries for the best sweet-and-tart flavor and proper cookie texture.
Why did my cookies spread too much while baking?
If your cookies spread too flat, your butter or dairy-free butter substitute may have been too warm or melted when mixed. Chilling the cookie dough for 15 to 30 minutes before baking helps prevent excessive spreading.
Can I make the cookie dough ahead of time?
Yes, you can prepare the dough in advance and store it covered in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours, or freeze the unbaked dough balls for up to 2 months. Bake straight from the freezer, adding a couple of extra minutes to the baking time if needed.
General FAQs and information about baking:
Why do recipes have salt in the ingredients of baked goods?
Even though salt tends to make foods, well, salty, it actually plays other roles in baking as well.
For example, the right amount of salt balances flavors in baked goods; it can bring out the sweetness of sugar and, at the same time, prevent them from tasting overly sweet. It also can help dull the bitterness of cocoa.
Salt prevents baked goods from tasting bland, while it balances the richness of the fats. It also helps develop flavor in yeast breads and works with proteins to strengthen gluten and make it more elastic.
Salt also slows down yeast fermentation because it prevents the yeast from eating up the sugars too quickly, which otherwise would cause the dough to rise too fast and then ultimately collapse, causing bread to come out flat instead of fluffy.
Salt helps baked goods stay a little fresher for a little longer and helps delay mold from growing on them.
What is the difference between white granulated sugar and brown sugar?
The short answer is that while white granulated sugar is just pure sweetness, brown sugar is white sugar with molasses mixed into it.
Here is how that change affects your baking:
- White sugar is neutrally sweet. Brown sugar tastes like rich caramel or toffee.
- White sugar makes things crisp and light. Brown sugar traps moisture, making baked goods (like brownies) dense, soft, and extra chewy.
- Brown sugar is dark and wet; white sugar is dry and clear.
Tip: If a recipe calls for brown sugar and you’re completely out, you can make your own by thoroughly mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of regular white granulated sugar, and that will give you light-brown sugar. If you want dark brown sugar, you need to mix in more molasses.
What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking soda and baking powder are both synthetic leavens that help baked goods rise, but there is a difference between them.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, which needs another ingredient that is acidic in order to be activated. When the baking soda touches the acid, it creates a carbon dioxide gas, which helps the baked good rise. Baking soda is between 3 and 4 times stronger than baking powder, and if too much baking soda is used, your baked good will end up with a metallic flavor.
Baking powder is baking soda that is already mixed with an acid and a stabilizer and will be activated by moisture and heat. Nowadays, baking powder is called double-acting because it activates twice—once when it gets wet (when you mix the ingredients together) and again when it heats in the oven.
Replacing one with the other can be tricky, and it’s not recommended. However, if you have no choice, then do solid research for substituting one for the other for the baked good you are preparing so you don’t ruin it.
What do eggs do in baking?
Eggs are made up of two parts: the whites and the yolks (the yellow).
Egg whites are made up of protein that sets when heated and helps baked goods hold their structure. The yolks are made up of fats and vitamins and help ingredients bond.
Eggs also help baked goods rise as well as keep them moist.
It is important to have the right amount of eggs when baking, because if there are too many eggs in a recipe, this can cause a rubbery, dense texture, and if there are too few eggs, this can cause a crumbly, dry texture.
The different parts of the egg will provide different textures to baked goods; using the entire egg in baking will provide moisture and help the baked good rise evenly, using extra yolks will create richer, denser textures, and extra whites will add fluffiness but may create a drier texture.
What if I don’t want to use eggs in my baking?
There is food science that one can research to replace eggs in baking, but the substitutions will change from item to item.
What is the difference between butter and margarine?
Butter is a dairy product that is made by churning heavy cream until the fats separate from the milk (i.e., buttermilk). Margarine, however, is made from vegetable oil. Butter generally has a lower melting point than margarine as well as a lower water content (and the soft tub margarines have a higher water content than bar margarines).
Using butter in baking cookies can create a crisper, more flaky cookie, while cookies will come out softer and more cakey when made with margarine. It is also generally believed to be better to “cream” using butter rather than margarine.
Using butter adds a kind of toasted nut flavor to baked goods, while margarine doesn’t add flavor (however, sometimes with margarine, one might have a waxy feel on the roof of one’s mouth after eating something with a high margarine content).
If one wants to make a dairy-free baked good that calls for butter, a dairy-free margarine is a good substitute.
What is the difference between dairy-free margarine and vegan butter?
Vegan butter and margarine have similarities. In fact, all vegan butter is a type of dairy-free margarine. The difference between them is in the content and the baking performance.
Vegan butter is made from fats such as coconut oil, shea butter, or cocoa butter and behaves like butter in that it creates more flaky and crisp textures and has a toasted nutty flavor, while margarine is typically made with the less expensive vegetable oils.
What is the difference between real vanilla extract and imitation vanilla?
Real vanilla is made from soaking vanilla beans in alcohol, imitation vanilla is synthetic, and real vanilla costs quite a bit more than imitation. Whether or not there will be a taste difference in your baking depends on the baked good, so do some research before you decide.
I personally always use the imitation as long as I have a really good brand because it’s not worth it to me to spend the extra money.
What kind of equipment is good to have in my kitchen for baking?
- a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and sometimes for whipping
- a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough, and I don’t want to mix manually)
- a kitchen scale
- different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
- mixing bowls (or just large bowls—I have plastic, glass, and metal)
- cookie sheets
- pie dishes
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- whisks
- rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
- rolling pins
- a baking mat for rolling out dough
- baking strips
- a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)
What ingredients are good to keep in my kitchen for convenient baking?
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark—I usually keep dark)
- confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
- fillings, frosting, and toppings
- whipping cream
- packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
- puff pastry dough
Want to try some other unique cookies?
Easy Dairy-Free Cowboy Cookies
Easy S’more Cookies
Easy Dairy-Free Rocky Road Cookies
Easy Dairy-Free Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies Recipe
easy and delicious cookies loaded with white chocolate chips and cranberries.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour (for softer cookies)
- 1 cup softened vegan butter or dairy-free margarine
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (or small chunks of white chocolate), dairy-free or vegan
- 1 cup craisins
- 3/4 cup of light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (table salt or sea salt)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (imitation is fine)
Instructions
- Cream the butter or margarine with the brown sugar and white sugar.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
- Add the white chocolate and the craisins and mix well so they are pretty much evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Form balls to any size you like and place on baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper.
- Place in an oven that has been preheated to 400°F and bake for 10-14 minutes (depending on the size of the cookie) until they are just becoming a slight brown.
- Remove from the baking sheet and let cool.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 224Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 236mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 1gSugar: 19gProtein: 2g