Crisp around the edges and wonderfully chewy in the middle, these cranberry and white chocolate cookies are all you might ever want a cookie to be.
Cookies with a (not so) secret ingredient
If you're a fan of sweet and chewy cookies, then you're going to love this condensed milk and cranberry cookie recipe. These cookies are a perfect blend of sweet and tart flavours, making them an ideal treat for any occasion.
The recipe is simple and easy to follow, so even if you're a beginner baker, you can whip up a batch in no time.
The secret to the delicious taste of these cookies is the use of condensed milk. It adds a rich, creamy flavour to them, making them melt in your mouth. The cranberries provide a pop of tartness, which balances the sweetness of the condensed milk and sugar.
Cookies backstory
A couple of years ago I had decorators in and as you do, dished out biscuits for them to have on their tea break.
I just had some of these in the house so mixed them in with some shop-bought ones (oh no, I don’t bake biscuits just for the builders. Or should I? Is it patronising to, is it condescending not to? What quandaries!) and promptly every day they polished my cookies leaving the shop-bought ones behind.
They told me they had The Biscuit of the Year competition running amongst their customers and the cookies below were the firm contenders for the first prize.
Sadly they didn’t come back to me with the competition results. But I’m certain it was only because they didn’t get round to the award stage.
Make a batch today!
To start, you'll need to gather all your ingredients. You'll need flour, baking powder, soft unsalted butter, both caster and brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. With these simple ingredients, you can create a delicious batch of cookies that everyone will love.
I have sadly no idea where the recipe comes from though I suspect it could be from Nestle Carnation milk site.
I’ve modified it by adding light brown muscovado sugar apart from caster sugar. The combination of the two is what makes for the lovely chewy texture. Cranberries give the cookies a tang, but one of the best things about this recipe is that it's versatile.
You can add your own twist to it by using different types of dried fruit, such as raisins or apricots. You could also try adding some chopped nuts, such as almonds or pecans, for a bit of crunch.
White chocolate chips can also be swapped for dark chocolate, milk chocolate, all of the above or none at all if you want to be more virtuous. But who would?
How to make the condensed milk cookie dough?
It’s laughably easy. If you let the butter soften in room temperature long enough, you won’t even need a mixer to beat it with the sugars. Though obviously, it makes the job much simpler.
Adding the condensed milk to the butter mixture can be done with a spoon, likewise, mixing in the flour and adding whatever delightful chips or dried fruit you like.
The dough will be soft and it can be processed straight away – no torture of waiting 48 hours for the dough to mature, like with the triple chocolate chip ones.
These cookies are perfect for a mid-day snack, as an after-dinner treat, or for sharing with friends and family at afternoon tea time. The recipe makes about two dozen cookies, so you'll have plenty to share. You can even freeze the dough if you want to make them in advance.
More recipes with condensed milk
Condensed milk cake with vibrant lime flavour has a tender texture like a very buttery pound cake. You can use condensed milk (which is sweetened, as opposed to evaporated milk) of any brand, Nestle Carnation or a supermarket own label.
No churn raspberry ripple ice cream, based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe: stupidly easy, and amazingly effective. Condensed milk, double cream plus raspberry puree equals ice cream made in ten minutes.
Lemon pound cake made with condensed milk. This lemon butter cake is soft and spongy, what I call ‘a wet cake’ in the best possible meaning. Lots of lemon zest gives it a fantastic flavour.
More cookie recipes
Mokonuts’ cranberry, chocolate and rye cookies are a revelation. If you thought you knew all there was to know about cookies – you were wrong.
Chewy and crispy chocolate chip cookies with white and brown sugar. These are triple choc, but you can add chocolate chips of your choice: dark or white or milk.
Easy oatmeal raisin cookies recipe makes the ultimate, chewy oats and raisin butter cookies. No need to soak the raisins. Use jumbo rolled oats and steel-cut or pinhead oats for the best oatmeal raisin cookies ever.