These festive fresh cranberry, white chocolate, and oatmeal cookies are soft and chewy and slightly crispy around the edges, stuffed with a cranberry cream cheese or vanilla mascarpone that takes these colorful goodies over the top!!!
Why This Recipe Works
- The tart fresh cranberries are balanced by the sweetness of the white chocolate and the nuttiness of the oats.
- Using a blend of both white and brown sugar deepens the flavor of each, adding complexity and ensuring crispy edges and a chewy middle.
- The slight tang of the cream cheese and mascarpone complimentsthe warm cinnamon and nutmeg notes in the cookies.
Holiday season seems to be synonymous with cookie season (and cake season and pie season and I guess just dessert anything season). This past week I was invited to both a cookie swap and a virtual cookie party and made the executive decision that these stellar invites necessitated an original cookie recipe. I immediately knew that I was gonna get my fresh-cranberry-baking game on!
Move over dried cranberries!
It’s time to add some juicy, tart, fresh cranberries to baked goods. And you can start with these colorful cranberry stuffed cookies, just in time for the Holidays!
These delightfully colorful cranberry-studded goodies are simply a batch of cookies slathered with frosting and sandwiched. Spread the creamy filling on underside of one cookie and press together with another and voila ~ we have a whoopie pie! It’s like a cookie-frosted-cake combo situation that you’ll def want in your Holiday cookie repertoire.
How to Make these Fresh Cranberry, White Chocolate & Oatmeal Stuffed Cookies
- Cream butter and both sugars in the bowl of a food processor. Add the vanilla, egg and salt and beat. Add the flour and baking soda and mix again. Fold in the cranberries, white chocolate chips and oats.
- Roll cookies into balls and bake in the oven.
- While the cookies bake, make your filling in a food processor. The fresh cranberry filling take a bit more time as we cook down cranberries on a stove, but if you’re pressed for time stick with just the vanilla mascarpone filling or simply enjoy unstuffed!
- Wait for the cookies to cool then slather a layer of frosting on the underside of one cookie and sandwich with another. Repeat until all done.
***Note: I use a food processor because I don’t own a mixer. So if you’re reading this and wondering what to get me for the Holidays are my Birthday coming up next month (hint hint mom & dad and the nice boy I’m dating who I don’t think has ever read my blog) a mixer would be an epic present… just sayin’.
Butter and sugar is creamed:
Add white chocolate chips and coarsely chopped up cranberries (pls see the pic above to see the cranberries chopped up):
And Oatmeal:
White chocolate chips, cranberries and oatmeal are folded into the batter:
The cookies balls are rolled out:
And baked:
The Cranberry Cream cheese and Vanilla Mascarpone is made:
And the cookies are stuffed!
Cooks Tip
- Be sure to use old fashioned oats, not steel cut or any other variety.
- Cranberries love to roll around when you’re trying to chop them. Use a large cutting board and be on your toes for escapees.
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting. Warm cookies will make an oozing frosting mess.
- It’s crucial that you’re using room temp butter, mascarpone, and cream cheese for the frosting. If any of those ingredients is too hard and cold, the frosting won’t whip up properly and won’t become light and airy.
Cranberries are NOT just for cranberry sauce!
The sweet-tart cranberry fruit deserves some more lovin’ friends and I wanna be a fresh cranberry advocate! Cranberries are not just for cranberry sauce friends! I’ll support ya to get your fresh cranberry game on, both sweet and savory style!
Check out these other recipes featuring fresh cranberries:
- Cranberry & Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Chops
- Fresh Cranberry Braised Brisket
- Cranberry Gingersnap Pie
- Candied Macadamia, Caramel & Cranberry Tart
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #wavesinthekitchen. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Fresh Cranberry, White Chocolate & Oatmeal Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup fresh cranberries coarsely chopped
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Cranberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cranberries
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 8 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Vanilla Mascarpone (or Cream Cheese) Frosting
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted, room temperature
- 2 ounces mascarpone softened (or cream cheese)
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean pod scraped out or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor with the dough blade, cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix to combine. Add the flour and baking soda and mix again
- Remove batter into a large bowl and fold in fresh cranberries, white chocolate chips and oatmeal.
- Scoop dough into 1-inch balls, rolling between your hands to make them perfectly circle. Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 1.5 inches between each cookie.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Cookies will look underdone and still pale, but this is what you want! Allow to cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Frosting
- Put the cranberries, granulated sugar, and water to a simmer in a saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer the cranberries, uncovered, for about 15 minutes until they've popped and the mixture is quite thick. Let cool slightly.
- While the cranberries are simmering, combine cream cheese and butter in a food processor with the dough attachment (or use a standing mixer if you have one unlike me) and cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip for an additional 30 seconds.
- Add the cooled cranberry mixture to the cream cheese and whip for an additional minute.
Vanilla Mascarpone (or Cream Cheese) Frosting
- Combine Mascarpone (or cream cheese) and butter in the bowl of a food processor with the dough attachment (or use a standing mixer if you have one) and cream until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla bean (or vanilla extract) and whip for an additional 30 seconds.
To Assemble the Cookies
- Assemble the cookies by slathering about 2 tablespoons of frosting on the flat side of one cookie, then sandwich with the flat side of another cookie! Repeat with remaining cookies. Use all a combo of both frostings, just one or none ~ your choice!
Notes
- Be sure to use old fashioned oats, not steel cut or any other variety.
- Cranberries love to roll around when you’re trying to chop them. Use a large cutting board and be on your toes for escapees.
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting. Warm cookies will make an oozing frosting mess.
- It’s crucial that you’re using room temp butter, mascarpone, and cream cheese for the frosting. If any of those ingredients is too hard and cold, the frosting won’t whip up properly and won’t become light and airy.
These look awesome!
Thanks so much!!! I’m actually working on this blog post right now :). ?
Looks delicious. Love the color!!!!!
Such an interesting (and yummy-looking) idea! Can’t wait to try it.
Thank you so much Stephanie! Please let me know how it goes :).
Do they have to be refrigerated once complete? I was hoping to add them to my Christmas cookie tins
Hi and so stoked to hear you’re making these!!! How long will they be in the tins for? The frosting is the only concern so it’s also an option to just not stuff them… 💜😘