These dark chocolate cranberry almond cookies are massively thick, buttery soft, and spiced with warm cinnamon. Loaded with cranberries, almonds, and pools of melted dark chocolate, texture lovers will delight in the decadence.
These dark chocolate cranberry almond cookies are truly one of our best cookie recipes. Thereโs really no comparison to dark chocolate and these cookies are bursting with it! When developing todayโs recipe, we were inspired by these soft chocolate chip cookies. Theyโre always a hit and we know many of you feel the same way about their unbeatable texture.
Tell Me About these Dark Chocolate Cranberry Almond Cookies
- Texture: Youโll enjoy extra soft and thick cookie centers with irresistibly crisp edges.
- Flavor: So much flavor! The cookies are filled with dark chocolate, spiced with warm cinnamon, and have pops of nutty and tart flavors from the almonds and cranberries.
- Time: You can prepare the cookie dough within minutes, but youโll need 2 hours to chill it before baking. Itโs a fairly sticky dough and without time in the refrigerator, the cookie dough will melt into flat greasy puddles all over the baking sheet.
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
This cookie dough is a little bit of a test experiment, based off our soft chocolate chip cookies.
- Flour: We add a teeny bit of flour to bulk up the dough, but not too much to dry out the baked cookiesโonly 2 extra Tablespoons more than our Soft White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies which aren’t quite as thick.
- Cornstarch: The cookies are still super soft even after we reduced the cornstarch to 1 teaspoon.
- Cinnamon: Just a hint of cinnamon gives these cookies that warm, cozy flavor.
- Texture Boosters: We add plenty of real dark chocolate, a generous handful of dried cranberries, and some sliced almonds for even more crunchy texture.
- One thing we didnโt change: We still use more brown sugar than white granulated sugar in this recipe. Remember, brown sugar is what helps create a super soft and tender dough.
Best Chocolate to Use
- Dark chocolate bars. We recommend using quality dark chocolate bars. We usually use Bakerโs brand, but Ghirardelli, Lindt, or Nestlรฉ baking bars also work beautifully. What we love most about using real chocolate bars (as opposed to chocolate chips which contain stabilizers) is that real chocolate melts down. Melty chocolate means pools of melted chocolate inside each warm cookie. Is that enough to convince you?
- Chocolate chips. Though we prefer the bars, you could also use dark chocolate chipsโGhirardelli makes a 60% bittersweet chocolate chip that would be fantastic in these.ย
- Other types of chocolate. Of course, if dark chocolate just isnโt your thing, donโt worry. Semisweet, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate work too.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Iced Oatmeal Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dark Chocolate Cranberry Almond Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Theseย dark chocolate cranberry almond cookies are massively thick, buttery soft, spiced with cinnamon, and loaded with cranberries, almonds, and pools of melted dark chocolate.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (265g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1ย teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4ย cup (150g) packed lightย brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2ย teaspoonsย pure vanilla extract
- 6 ounces (170g) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*
- 3/4 cup (105g) dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup (55g) sliced, slivered, or chopped almonds (I used closer to 2/3 cup)*
Instructions
- Whiskย the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute.ย Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, beat in the chocolate, dried cranberries, and almonds until combined.ย Cover and chill the dough for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than a few hours, allow to sit at room temperature for at leastย 30ย minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop or roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chunks/dried cranberries/or almonds into the topsโthis is only for looks!
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough!
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper |ย Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Chocolate: I used 1 and 1/2 4-ounce bars of Baker’s bittersweet chocolate to get the 6 ounces. You can also use a semi-sweet chocolate bar, a milk chocolate bar, or a white chocolate bar. 1 cup of chocolate chips works too!
- Almonds: Anywhere around 1/2 – 2/3 cup sliced almonds is perfect.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made these because I happen to have all the ingredients in my pantry and they sounded good. But oh my goodness they are DELICIOUS!!! The hint of cinnamon is magical!
When a cookie recipe calls for chilling the dough for a couple of hours I’ve been portioning out each cookie on a parchment lined cookie sheet and then putting the tray in the refrigerator for up to an hour. This has worked out great and you don’t have to deal with the dough becoming too hard to portion or wait for the dough to soften before portioning.
Could I substitute dark chocolate covered cranberries for the the separate chocolate and cranberries
Hi Pam! We haven’t tried it, but that should work. The chunks will be larger in the cookies.
We use these cookies as a welcoming treat for our BnB guests – they love them!