If you’re a fan of white chocolate and/or buttery soft cookies, these High-Protein Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies are about to become your new favorite dessert.
These cookies were born out of my love for PEScience’s limited edition white chocolate macadamia protein powder. It’s hands down one of their best flavors, and it captures the essence of white chocolate perfectly. If you’re a fan of white chocolate, I highly recommend grabbing some of this protein powder while it’s available (starting on 5/27/24) – use code “matt” for 10% off your PEScience order if you want to pick some up.
As someone who makes protein cookies all the time (seriously, check out all my delicious protein cookie recipes on the site), I wanted to create a cookie that was indistinguishable from its “regular” counterpart. I usually aim to make recipes that are as “macro friendly” as possible, but sometimes that means accepting a small sacrifice in the flavor department. For this recipe, I didn’t worry so much about the macros and rather focused all my attention on creating the most delicious cookies possible.
The result is nothing short of fantastic.
These cookies have that perfect, authentic buttery texture that you’d expect from a traditional cookie. They’re so good that even my picky toddler and non-protein-loving wife enjoyed them!
The combination of white chocolate and cranberries in these cookies is a match made in heaven. The sweetness of the white chocolate is balanced perfectly by the tartness of the cranberries, creating a flavor profile that’s both satisfying and addictive.
And while these cookies may not be as impressive from a macro standpoint as some of my other protein cookie recipes (each cookie has 7 grams of protein), they still pack a decent protein punch for a cookie that tastes just like the real deal. At 155 calories, 9.5g fat, 11g carbs, and 7g protein per cookie, they certainly still qualify as a protein cookie, and a delicious one at that.
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make these High-Protein Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies, you’ll need:
- PEScience White Chocolate Macadamia Protein Powder (or vanilla if the limited edition flavor is unavailable)
- Oat flour (you can make your own by blending oats into a fine powder)
- Brown sugar substitute (or regular brown sugar)
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Butter (using regular butter is key for the perfect texture)
- Sugar-free syrup (or another liquid sweetener)
- White chocolate
- Dried cranberries
The star of this recipe is definitely the PEScience White Chocolate Macadamia protein powder. It lends such an authentic white chocolate flavor to these cookies that would be incredibly difficult to replace.
If you can’t get your hands on this limited edition flavor, vanilla protein powder will work in a pinch – just know that you won’t get quite the same white chocolate taste.
How to Make High-Protein Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies
Making these cookies is a breeze. You’ll start by combining all your dry ingredients – protein powder, oat flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda – in a large bowl.
Then, melt your butter in the microwave and add it to the dry ingredients along with the syrup. Mix everything together until a cookie dough forms.
Next, chop up your white chocolate and cranberries and fold them into the dough.
I like to chop them up pretty finely so they’re distributed evenly throughout the cookies, but you can leave them a bit larger if you prefer more distinct chunks of white chocolate and cranberry in your cookies. If you opt to not chop up your ingredients, you may find yourself wanting to add a bit more to the dough.
Now, here’s the most important step: refrigerate your cookie dough for at least an hour. This not only helps develop the flavors, but also allows the dough to thicken up as the butter solidifies. Trust me, this step is crucial for achieving the perfect cookie texture.
Can you skip the chilling process? Technically, yes, but if you want authentic cookie texture, trust the process.
Once your dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 325°F. Break the dough into 6 pieces (or 8 if you want slightly smaller and lower-calorie cookies), roll them into balls, and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, then remove them from the oven and let them cool completely. As tempting as it may be to dig in right away, letting the cookies cool is key. They’ll set and solidify as they come to room temperature.
When you first take these cookies out of the oven, they may seem underbaked or cakey, but they will transform once they fully cool.
Nothing beats a cookie fresh out of the oven, but these protein cookies hold up surprisingly well as leftovers! Keep them stored in an airtight container and enjoy soft cookies throughout the week.
And if you’re worried about raw ingredients or underbaked cookies, don’t be; everything in this recipe is safe to consume raw, so you can even underbake the cookies a bit if you prefer a softer, gooier center.
I know you’ll love these cookies as much as I do. They’re the perfect balance of sweet and tart, with a texture that rivals any traditional cookie. Plus, with 7 grams of protein per cookie, they’re a treat you can feel good about devouring.
Need more protein cookie recipes in your life? Here are some of my favorites:
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine your protein powder, oat flour, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then add the melted butter to the bowl with your dry ingredients along with 2 tablespoons of syrup. Mix until cookie dough forms.
- Chop up your white chocolate and dried cranberries then fold those into your cookie dough. I prefer to chop these up to distribute them throughout the cookies more, but you can leave them intact as white chocolate chips and full cranberries if you prefer.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for one hour. Chilling the dough not only develops the flavor, but allows the cookie dough to thicken thanks to the butter solidifying, which is essential for proper cookie texture.
- Once the cookie dough has chilled, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Break the cookie dough into 6 pieces (or 8 if you want slightly lower-calorie cookies), roll them into balls, and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to fully cool. The cookies will set and solidify as they cool, so it’s important to allow them to fully cool before digging in (about 15-20 minutes).
- Keep leftovers stored in an airtight container at room temperature and enjoy throughout the week.
Notes
- PEScience has a limited edition white chocolate macadamia protein powder which worked so well for this recipe. The white chocolate flavor was perfect for these cookies. If that protein powder flavor is unavailable to you, vanilla will work in its place, but you will not get the same white chocolate flavor.
- The protein powder used is a whey/casein blend and I cannot promise the same results with a different type of protein powder.
- Using full-fat butter is very important here. I tried a batch of these cookies with light butter (something I use in many recipes) and the cookies were not nearly as good. It technically works in a pinch, but these cookies are roughly 100 times more delicious with regular butter.
- All of the ingredients in this recipe are safe to consume raw, so you can safely underbake these cookies.
- I used a zero-calorie brown sugar substitute in this recipe, so I do not count that in my carb totals below. If you are very strict about carbs, or you use regular brown sugar, you’ll want to make those adjustments when tracking the macros for these cookies.
- If you make this recipe as 8 cookies, they will contain 115 calories & 5g protein each.
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Nutrition Information
Yield 6
Serving Size 1 Cookie
Amount Per Serving
Calories 155Total Fat 9.5gCarbohydrates 11gProtein 7g
