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These Double Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies have a browned butter and nutmeg dough loaded with chocolate chunks & cranberries, both dried and fresh! The fresh cranberries add a tart bite to these cookies. They’re the perfect addition to your holiday cookie platters!
Cranberries are a symbol of winter. The festive, cheery red color, the sweet sauce (hopefully homemade) that gets slathered all over your Thanksgiving dinner, and the piles of bags of cranberries that you see placed at the front of the produce section of the market, basking in their 15 minutes of fame, until Christmas passes and they’re replaced.
And this year, I’m preparing for cranberry overload because I’ve been having too much fun playing with cranberries in the kitchen! I’ve always adored the tart, sweet bite that cranberries add to any dessert, and I’ve always fondly remembered how much I loved these browned butter cranberry lime muffins that I made way back when Bakerita was only a few months old. The tartness of cranberries adds a flavor to dessert that I find absolutely enticing, and if you’ve never tried it, well…you’re in for a major treat.
The dough for these cookies is a favorite. We start with some browned butter (invite your friends over because your house will smell amazing). It makes the cookies ultra chewy! The browned butter makes the dough extra special with just a hint of ground nutmeg. The nutmeg is subtle but there and highly recommended. It adds an extra hint of holiday warmth and comfort and pairs beautifully with the browned butter and the cranberries.
How to brown butter:
Melt butter over medium-low heat in a medium skillet, stirring nearly continuously. Butter will melt, then begin to foam. It will then begin to turn golden brown and smell nutty. Take the pan off the heat as soon as the butter turns brown. Continue to stir for about 1 minute to ensure carryover heat doesn’t continue to cook and subsequently burn the already browned butter. Transfer the browned butter to a small bowl, scraping the sides of the pan to get ALL of the toasty brown butter bits. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the butter is solidified but still soft.
Now, we add double the cranberry. We add fresh, bright cranberries and chewy, dried, sweet cranberries are to the dough, along with chunks of dark chocolate. Fresh cranberries add a gorgeous shock of red color to any dish that they grace. I love how that pop of color adds some lively, festive cheer to these cookies.
If you’ve been around Bakerita a bit, you know I love to chop my chocolate for cookies instead of using chocolate chips. But you can do what’s most convenient! If you’ve never tried chopped chocolate, I highly recommend it. Many chocolate chip brands use wax to help them hold their shape, which inhibits their meltiness. The chocolate in the cookies will stay soft and gooey by using chopped chocolate, just as I like it!
These cookies disappeared off the plate in record time and were a major house favorite. The cranberries make for an unexpected but most definitely welcome addition to the cookie party. These Double Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies are perfect for your cookie platter this holiday season or simply to share with family and friends and bask in a little holiday love. Enjoy!
Double Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick, 4 oz unsalted butter, browned and cooled to room temperature
- 1/4 cup 2 oz white sugar
- 1 cup 7.5 oz light brown sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 4 oz. dark chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch chunks (or add more as desired, up to 6 oz)
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky salt, for sprinkling on top before baking
Instructions
How to brown butter
- Melt butter over medium-low heat in a medium skillet, stirring nearly continuously. Butter will melt, then begin to foam. It will then begin to turn golden brown and smell nutty. As soon as the butter begins to turn brown, take the pan off the heat and continue to stir for about 1 minute to ensure carryover heat doesn’t continue to cook and subsequently burn the already browned butter.
- Transfer the browned butter to a small bowl, scraping the sides of the pan to get ALL of the toasty brown butter bits. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or until the butter is solidified but still soft.
To make the cookies
- Add the butter to a large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, and cream the butter and the sugars until fully combined, about 5 minutes on medium-high. Scrape down the side of the bowl.
- Continue mixing and add the egg. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, baked soda, nutmeg, and salt in another bowl with a whisk to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over-mix. The dough may be slightly crumbly. Fold in the dark chocolate, dried cranberries, and fresh cranberries with a spatula. Refrigerate dough for at least one hour 1 hour, or up to 5 days.
- Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to form cookies. Sprinkle a light amount of sea salt on top. Bake at 350ºF for 11 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Cool completely before storing. Enjoy!
I used 100% cacao chocolate. Was that ok?
I also used 1 cup fresh cranberries, and no dried cranberries.
It looked crumbly every after cooking. I did it for the initial 11 minutes, then another 5 minutes.
I think the taste was close to what it was supposed to be. But I wish they looked more like cookies. They kind of look like thin crackers, but I wish they just stayed together more.
What can I do next time if this happens again? Add the full 2nd egg (instead of just the yolk)? Or something else?
Pictures:
https://imgur.com/a/GOhzqZw
Hi there, it looks like there are a lot more mix-ins in the photo than there is dough! As for the chocolate, 100% melts ALL over the place which would explain why the chocolate is so melty/messy. Fresh cranberries are also larger than dried and bake up differently. Did you change anything about the dough itself? Because it doesn’t look as smooth/together as it should! A second egg may help, hard for me to know exactly without being in the kitchen with you though.
I just saw your response. Thanks. Am I supposed to get email notifications if you respond? Because I don’t think I got any.
Thank you for the response.
I don’t think I changed anything about the dough.
Ok so I should use 60, 70, or 80% cacao next time? Can you mention that in your ingredients, so it’s a little more clear as to which type of dark chocolate works best? Which do you think is best?
So you think I also either used too many cranberries, or not enough dough. So perhaps if I used this amount of fresh cranberries (1 cup), then I should be using more dough? I just like the taste of fresh cranberries better, so I wanted to use those instead of any dried ones.
I’m also someone that likes a few pictures during the process, so I can have a reference point and feel more confident that I’m doing things how they should be.
Oh, I remember one more thing now. The chocolate came in 4 oz bars, so I had 2 of them for 8 oz total. After I put 6 oz in, I didn’t think putting the remaining 2 oz would be that harmful, as I didn’t want to keep 2 oz for chocolate that I might not use for several months, or a year. I only make baked goods 1-3 times a year, and it might not be chocolate next time. Was that another problem, in addition to using 100% cacao for the chocolate?
Hi Arun, usually dark chocolate refers to between 60-80% chocolate, and 100% chocolate is referred to as unsweetened! I typically use 70% chocolate.
As for too many cranberries, fresh cranberries are larger and expand during baking, so they take up more “space” in the dough compared to dried, which integrate into the dough more easily.
Of course, adding the extra cranberries and the extra chocolate make the dough more full, so I would scale up the dough if you want to add more mix-ins. Since these cookies are already pretty loaded, the extras make it so there isn’t enough dough to surround all of the mix-ins. I hope this helps!
Thank you. That will help for the next time I try.
These are the best cookies! They are delicious and I will definitely be making them again. I had to add water to the dough because it was crumbly, and ended up baking for about 18 minutes. I used gluten free 1:1 flour and there’s no difference in taste.
So glad you loved them, Aisha! Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you were able to make it work with the GF flour, I’m guessing it was more absorbent which is why you had the crumbles.
What kind of flour would make this gluten free without being grainy?
Hi Julia, almond flour would work well here!
Can I make this ahead of time and freeze the dough be frozen before baking? Would that change the cook time?
Yes for sure! I like to freeze the dough in balls, you can let them thaw for 15-20 mins before baking or just add a minute or so to the baking time. Enjoy!
I’ve made multiple batches of these for the past couple of years around Christmas and they’re always a hit! They have a unusual flavor combo that’s hard to beat and of course the red cranberries go well with Christmas themed desserts.
A couple of notes: although the ingredients lists fine sea salt to sprinkle on the cookies, there’s no step in the instructions reminders bakers to do that. Personally, I think it tends to work out better to sprinkle the sea salt right after removing the cookies from the oven, since they’ve already spread to their final size.
I would also note that each time I make this, it feels like I throw away a decent amount of leftover baking chocolate. I know the recipe was updated to remove 1/4 cup of flour and I think that’s the culprit. I’d probably reduce the amount of chocolate to 4 or 5 oz – you still get plenty of chocolate and cranberries without feeling like you’re wasting ingredients.
The next time I make these, I’ll likely try adding back the 1/4 cup of flour and see if the dough holds up well. I consistently get 20 cookies making the recipe as is, so I’m curious to see if it will get up to 22 or 24.
Hi Rachel, thanks so much for the notes! I can adjust down the amount of chocolate and will add a note about the salt. I always add salt before baking so it sticks better, but of course you can add it whenever you prefer.