If you're looking for a cookie that feels a little fancy but still delivers all the comfort of a classic, these White Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies might be your new favorite. They’re thick and chewy with crisp edges, packed with toasted chopped almonds, sweet-tart dried cherries, and creamy chunks of white chocolate.
The dough is easy to make, but chilling it for a couple of hours is key—it gives the cookies their rich flavor and prevents spreading. I like using a mix of almond and vanilla extract to bring out the nuttiness, and hand-chopping the cherries and almonds ensures great texture in every bite.
White Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies are great for holiday trays, bake sales, or anytime you want to impress without a lot of fuss. And bonus—they smell amazing while baking.
Tip: Use a good-quality white chocolate baking bar instead of chips for the best melt and flavor. And if you're using unsalted butter, don’t forget to bump up the salt just a bit.
Grab the full recipe below and let me know if you try them!
Recipe
White Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour, weigh or measure with a light hand (315 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature or use a combination of half shortening and half butter (230 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed (150 grams to 160 grams)
- 2 large eggs or medium eggs for less cakey cookies
- 1 teaspoon each – almond extract & vanilla extract
- ¾ cup dried cherries (you can use more or less to taste) coarsely chopped
- 1 ¼ cups whole almonds toasted and chopped by hand
- 6 ounces white baking chocolate, cut into chunks
Instructions
- Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs and extracts; beat on low speed for about 10 seconds.
- Using lowest speed of mixer or by hand, stir in flour mixture. When flour is incorporated, stir in cherries, almonds and white chocolate. Chill dough for about 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Alternatively, use a medium cookie scoop and scoop out slightly larger balls.
- Place on center rack of preheated 350F oven, and bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.
- Note: If you want to make them perfectly round, take an English muffin form or a large round cookie cutter, set it over the warm cookie so the cookie sits in the center, then jiggle the cutter to coax the warm cookie into a circle.
Sue says
I made these again for old time sake and we still love them.
I made variations too. One with almonds, chocolate chips and cherries and one with almonds and coconut. Your original version is the hands down winner.
I'd give these five stars if I could but I guess the old recipes weren't posted with the star rating system option.
Sue says
These cookies are WONDERFUL! I stirred them up this afternoon and then baked them so we could have them warm out of the oven after supper for dessert. My husband said, these might be the best cookies he's ever had, but he'd probably need side by side taste tests with others to be sure. 🙂
Thank you Anna!!