Bite size balls of buttery cookie dough filled with salted pistachios and sweet cranberries, it’s impossible to eat just one. I’ve been craving cranberries like mad lately and I’m resisting the urge to make my beloved Cranberry Christmas Cake for at least a couple more weeks. (I could eat that whole cake myself in a couple of days!)
When I saw the Craisins sitting next to the oatmeal yesterday after breakfast, I couldn’t resist trying a cookie dough ball for snacking.
Buttery sweet edible cookie dough filled with miniature chocolate chips in a bite-size chunk of snackable Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites.
Pistachios with cranberries is a new-to-me flavor combination and I really liked it. I’ve seen the combination popping up all over the place over the past few years. Sue paired cranberries with pistachios in this gorgeous bread, Aimee made biscotti, and Julie made granola bars.
I finally had to try them together for myself. The salty nuts and sweet fruit combined with the buttery brown sugar oatmeal cookie dough proved to be an irresistible combination.
Cranberry Pistachio Cookie Dough Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda this is optional, but it really does add to the "cookie dough" flavor
- 1 cup quick cooking oats you can use old fashioned oats as well, see the above note
- 1/3 cup shelled roasted and salted pistachios, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and baking soda together until smooth. Stir in the oats and then the pistachios and cranberries. Scoop into small balls and roll between your hands to smooth them. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate 6-8 hours before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
ONE YEAR AGO TODAY: The Best Queso Blanco Dip – Spicy White Cheese Dip
Sue/the view from great island says
Cranberry and pistachio is such a perfect holiday pairing, and thanks for the baking soda tip, I never knew that 🙂
xaudius Stevens says
Hi Mary I couldn't get these to stick together like balls, any suggestions why or how?
Mary says
Did you substitute anything in the recipe? Were they too sticky? Not sticky enough? I might be able to help you figure it out with a little more information. I've made several versions of the cookie dough balls and never had a problem with the recipe.
xaudius Stevens says
Yeah they were not sticky enough, I softened the butter idk if that made a difference.
Mary says
That is very strange. If you still have the dough in the fridge, you could let it warm to room temperature and mix in 1/4 cup more butter and see if that helps. I'm wondering if you might have accidentally added too much oatmeal, nuts, or cranberries. (I've done it myself in different recipes and wondered why the texture was so off.) This is such a simple recipe I can't imagine anything other than maybe a mistake throwing it off. I'm bummed they didn't turn out perfectly for you the first time though!
xaudius Stevens says
I figured it out my butter was too warm bc I tried it again with cold butter and it came out right😊. I love this recipe and I add chocolate chips and almonds to mine and sprinkle it with salt. Ty for helping me I use your recipes alot especially your cashew coconut blondies are my kids favorite.😊😊😊
Mary says
I'm so glad that it worked for you this time! Enjoy the cookie dough bites. 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Lori Duchesne says
I'm a little confused about the instructions for this recipe? How can you have butter that's softened and have it still be cold?
Mary says
I just re-read the directions and I don't see anywhere that I mentioned having cold butter. I used softened butter and creamed it with the sugar. Once the cookie dough balls were formed, I placed them in the refrigerator and then served them cold. The butter needs to be soft enough to mix with the sugar initially.