When you combine cranberry orange crumb cake with white chocolate chip cookies, you get these delicious, unique cookies that are perfect for the holiday season. They make a festive addition to your holiday cookie platter. I came up with these delightful cookies when I was looking for a way to use up leftover cranberry sauce. If your family is like mine, it’s rare for us to have leftover cranberry sauce because we love it so much. Click here to view my Cranberry Sauce recipe. Don’t worry, you can certainly use store bought whole berry cranberry sauce for this recipe and the cookies will be just as delicious.

Cranberry Orange Crumb Cake Cookies

Orange scented vanilla cookies with white chocolate chips, topped with cranberry sauce, crumb topping and orange icing

Course

Dessert

Keyword

cookies, cranberry orange

Servings

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

3/4 cup (96g) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (50g) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 1/2 tablespoons (64g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

2 cups (255g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 medium orange
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanila extract
3/4 cup (128g) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup (113g) whole berry cranberry sauce, purchased or homemade

Icing

2/3 cup (80g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 dash fine sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1-2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

Course

Dessert

Keyword

cookies, cranberry orange

Servings

Ingredients

Crumb Topping

3/4 cup (96g) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (50g) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 1/2 tablespoons (64g) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

2 cups (255g) all purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 medium orange
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanila extract
3/4 cup (128g) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup (113g) whole berry cranberry sauce, purchased or homemade

Icing

2/3 cup (80g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 dash fine sea salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1-2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

Instructions

Crumb Topping

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt until well combined. Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand with no large chunks of butter. Press the mixture together to form chunks. Set aside in the refrigerator while you make the cookie dough.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line 2 large cookies sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and orange zest, with an electric mixer at medium speed, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk in two separate additions, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture into the batter, just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
Form the cookie dough into sixteen 2-tablespoon size balls. Place them about 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Press a 1-inch wide indentation into each cookie using your thumb or a pastry tamper. Fill each indentation with a generous teaspoon of cranberry sauce. Top each one generously with the crumb topping. Gently press the topping into the cookies.
Bake until the topping and the edges start to turn light golden, about 11-13 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake to avoid drying out your cookies.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Icing

In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, salt, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of orange juice until well combined. Add additional orange juice as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies.