Ease into the festive season with these gorgeously soft and chewy cranberry, pistachio and white chocolate cookies! Delicately spiced with a little ginger and cinnamon, they’re incredibly moreish and a little bit Christmassy!
Well it’s officially past mid-November, is it almost acceptable to get my Christmas decorations out yet? I’ve always held off until December in previous years, but I have to say, it seems harder this year. Anyone else finding that?
These cookies are absolutely yummy! I made them for a family lunch and my husband ate at least five of them, which is weird because he doesn’t normally eat cookies, or really anything sweet, which is highly inconvenient for me. I love the combination of pistachio and cranberry, as well as looking holiday-appropriate, the tart cranberries and crunchy nuts are delicious. Melty white chocolate buttons and festive cinnamon and ginger make these cookies even more addictive.
You may notice how I’m sneaking gradually towards out and out FESTIVE SPIRIT. These cookies are a little way in for you so you don’t have to stop pretending to be a total grinch who definitely won’t be entertaining anything Christmassy until at least December the first.
From next week though, I’m afraid all bets are off. We’re going all out Christmas around here!


- 230g | 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 175g | 1 cup brown sugar
- 100g | 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 450g | 3 cups plain flour
- large pinch salt
- 200g | 1 cup dried cranberries
- 200g | 1 cup shelled pistachios
- 200g | 1 cup white chocolate buttons or chips
- Preheat your oven to 160C/gas mark 5/350F and prepare three large baking trays with non stick baking mats or greaseproof paper.
- Combine the unsalted butter and sugars in a bowl and mix together with a spatula - your butter needs to be very soft! Beat in the two eggs, salt and vanilla, and then measure out the dry ingredients. Reserve a handful each of the cranberries, pistachios and white chocolate, and stir the rest into your dough.
- Finally, sift in the plain flour, quickly incorporating it into the cookie dough. Use a small cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto your tray, at least 3 inches apart. Use the reserved cranberries, chocolate and pistachios to decorate the top of the cookies. Bake for a scant 9-11 minutes, removing from the oven before they start to brown. Let them cool and firm up completely on the counter before you attempt to move them.

Have I mentioned the importance of ice cream scoops to your baking before? I have two, a small one and a large one. The small one is invaluable for perfectly round and even balls of cookie dough, and the large one is perfect for making cupcakes – you use the scoop to measure out the batter, so all the cupcakes turn out exactly the same size!
If you’re a serious cookie baker, I’d also really recommend picking up these non-stick re-usable baking mats from Lakeland – I was skeptical at first, but they’re fantastic! Absolutely nothing sticks to them – so you never need to fear making delicious cookies that you can’t prise off the tray again!
I hope you love these!
x Kerry
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These will be added to the list of Christmas bakes!
Cloey x
I love cranberry, pistachio and white chocolate together!These cookies look so pretty and so festive!!!
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Thanks Amanda! Its such an addictive combination!
Yum! I am looking forward to your Christmas recipes so bring them on – I want to do lots of baking in December! I think it’s okay to get excited a little earlier – I think I am going to decorate earlier as we are going away to the family for Christmas so I want to enjoy for as long as possible! xx
Jasmin Charlotte | UK Lifestyle Blog
Jasmin Charlotte recently posted…My Reignited Make Up Faves!
Thanks Jasmin! I couldn’t agree more about your approach to Christmas! Where are you off to?
I love this combo Kerry and not just because it’s the prettiest combo in terms of colour! 😀
Me too! And me too, I love how festive it is but the flavour, crunch and tartness are super yummy too!