Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
These thick and chewy Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies are sure to be a new holiday favorite in your home for years to come!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted until browned, and brought back to room temperature
- 2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 8 ounces high-quality dark chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt, for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
To brown the butter:
- Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat; continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. About 6 to 8 minutes, depending on your stove top.
- Remove pan from heat and scrape butter - and any golden bits - into a medium sized, heatproof bowl. Place bowl in the fridge until butter has come back to room temperature; about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- You'll know it's ready when the butter is solid, but just soft enough that you can scrape it out of the bowl (use a strong metal spoon).
Make the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda; whisk well to combine then set aside until needed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, combine the chilled brown butter and both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in vanilla. Beat in egg and egg yolk, one at a time, beating until just combined, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, stirring until just combined. Fold in the chocolate, cranberries, and walnuts.
- Scoop 3 tablespoon sized rounds of dough onto the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie for spreading. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, or until edges are set and the center is still a little jiggly.
- Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle with sea salt, if using.
- Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
Notes
- For decorative purposes, you can press extra chocolate chunks on top of the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
- Cookies will stay "fresh" for 3 days when stored in an airtight container.
- Cookie dough will keep in the fridge for 72 hours. Alternatively, you may scoop and freeze the cookie dough for up to 2 months. You will need to add an extra minute or two to the bake time if baking frozen dough.
- You can make smaller sized cookies, but you'll need to decrease the bake time by a minute or two.
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