These chunky cookies are tasty and deliciously old-fashioned, with each bite packed with fruity cranberry and creamy white chocolate flavours. Perfect for sharing with loved ones during the Thanksgiving, Festive and Holiday seasons.
electric hand whisk optional, as can use a mixing spoon
sieve
mixing spoon
small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon
cooling rack
Ingredients
90grammargarine[such as Stork baking spread or Flora dairy free]
75gramgranulated sugar
55gramdark brown sugar
1teaspoonvanilla extract
2tablespoonsapple sauce[or apple puree or stewed and mashed apples]
2tablespoonssoya milk[or your usual milk]
225gramsplain flour[all-purpose flour]
1teaspoonbaking powder
⅛teaspoonsalt[we use sea salt]
100gramsvegan white chocolate [if using a bar or chocolate buttons break those up into small chunks or use white chocolate chips or drops]
90gramsdried cranberries
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 160 Fan/ 180C / 356 Fahrenheit / Gas 4.
Line the baking tray with baking paper.
Add the margarine, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar and vanilla to a mixing bowl. Using an electric hand whisk or a mixing spoon whip the ingredients until they are creamed together. Using an electric hand whisk this should take 30-60 seconds but if using a mixing spoon it may take about 2 minutes.
90 gram margarine, 75 gram granulated sugar, 55 gram dark brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Next add the apple sauce and milk and whisk some more until fully combined. If mixing with a mixing spoon the mixture may look curdled but it will be fine. A hand whisk reduces the likelihood of the mixture splitting.
2 tablespoons apple sauce, 2 tablespoons soya milk
Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl on top of the mixed ingredients. Sprinkle in the salt.
Add the white chocolate pieces along with the dried cranberries.
100 grams vegan white chocolate, 90 grams dried cranberries
Using a mixing spoon stir all the ingredients together. Make sure that all the flour has been mixed thoroughly.
Scoop up the cookie dough with an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon and drop onto the baking sheet, leaving at least an inch between each cookie. As a guide each cookie will weigh between 50-60 grams.
If the cookie balls are messy just use a teaspoon to gently smooth the edges more into ball shape. Don't press the cookie balls down as they are supposed to be chunky.
Bake for 14 minutes on the middle oven shelf. [if using a fan oven check the cookies at the 12 minute mark as fan ovens tend to bake faster]
Cookies will be set and firm to the touch but don't press to hard as they will still be soft inside. The cookies will firm up more as they cool. When just out of the oven the cookies may look a bit puffed up but as they cool they will settle down but will still be chunky.
Leave the cookies on the baking tray to cool for about 15-20 minutes or until they are easy to lift up and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutritional information is for guidance only and is not an exact calculation as ingredients can vary.
Store cookies in a cookie jar or tin, or within a food container wrapped in kitchen foil for up to 5-7 days.
Or freeze for 3-4 months.
Dried cranberries can be replaced with raisins, sultanas, goji berries, dried blueberries, cherries, or raspberries, or any other dried fruits. Although do chop any large pieces of dried fruit into smaller pieces - such as dried apricots or dates.
Vegan white chocolate can be replaced with dairy-free dark [semi-sweet] chocolate or your preferred vegan chocolate.
Stork baking spread was used for these cookies.
Moo Free white chocolate bars was used for these cookies - we chopped these into small chunks similar in size to chocolate chips or chocolate drops.
Any shop-bought apple sauce or apple puree from a jar or tub is fine for this recipe. If your apple sauce is chunky or has cubed apple pieces then use an immersion stick blender to smooth the sauce out. Or mash well with a potato masher.
Home-made apple sauce can be used - chop any type of eating or dessert apples into small pieces and cook with a few tablespoons of water until soft. Mash until smooth or blend.
We used apple puree that was sourced from our local wholefood shop and is packaged in a jar. It was a 700 gram jar of apple puree but we froze the leftover puree in ice cube trays. Once frozen the cubes were popped out and stored within a freezer bag for future recipes. Before freezing you can weigh the amount that each ice cube cup holds so that you know the weight of each ice cube, and can then pull out however many cubes you require for individual recipes.