These White Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cinnamon are my new favorite dessert! A soft and tender cookie, lightly spiced with cinnamon, with a ton of chopped white chocolate folded into the dough. The key to this recipe is using real chopped white chocolate instead of baking chips.
My sister Laura helps me manage my Pinterest account and even helps me make new pins sometimes. (hi Laura!!) Just a few weeks ago, she created a pin with a link to my cookie page, where you can see all the cookie recipes I have on my blog.
The pin said something like “50+ Cookie Recipes to Love!” I was like wait Laura, hold up, I definitely do not have 50 cookie recipes on my site, probably not even 30! Maybe we should change it to say “25 Cookies?”
She responded that she actually had counted, and that even if I DON’T include borderline recipes like No Bake Peanut Butter Energy Bites or these Swedish Sour Cream Twists, or Edible Brown Butter Cookie Dough, I STILL have over 80 cookie recipes.
I died laughing. The truth is, I love baking more than anything, and sometimes when my family needs dinner I bake them cookies instead. This has been going on for 10 years now, and apparently the proof is in the pudding! (Also, side note, can you believe my blog turns 10 in October?? CRAZY)
Nothing has changed really. I was supposed to be working on this healthy Zucchini Lasagna post last week, got distracted and made these White Chocolate cookies instead. And then fed them to my kids before dinner.
(One time Laura told me that she was talking with our other sister, Nikki, who has 5 kids. Nikki said that sometimes her older kids ask to make cookies at 4:30 in the afternoon. She always lets them, and then congratulates herself because she knows that by the time they are done eating all the dough and cookies, Nikki is totally off the hook for dinner.)
What can I say. It runs in the family.
Accidental Success White Chocolate Wonder Cookies
BOTH sides of the family, actually! This recipe is from Eric’s sister Britta. It was born from a classic case of not having the ingredients you need in the kitchen, and instead of a disaster it turns into something delicious.
Back in her college days, one Sunday afternoon Britta and her roommates wanted to make regular Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they didn’t have enough flour and they didn’t have any chocolate chips.
So they improvised by using some whole wheat flour they had in the back of the cupboard, and using up some white chocolate chips they found. And adding a lil cinnamon because why not.
Everyone raved about the cookies. They shared them with the boys next door and everyone kept asking what was in them.
Then, 20 years went by, and one day Britta told me the story of the Accidental Success White Chocolate Wonder Cookies, and I knew I had to recreate them!
Guys, I AM OBSESSED. I cannot stop making these and finally decided I needed to throw them up on the blog for posterity.
There is something about the added texture from the whole wheat, the little cinnamon spice, combined with the ooey gooey melty white chocolate that makes them melt in your mouth. And I am not even a white chocolate person! Gimme the dark stuff, usually. But not for these cookies. Oh no. The white chocolate is perfect. I actually found out a few years ago why I am not a “white chocolate person.”
White Chocolate Chips are not White Chocolate. I will die on this hill.
The only white chocolate I ever had growing up was in the form of white chocolate chips, or as a coating on cheap candy. I’ve never been a fan. It’s waxy and kinda funky tasting to me.
But a few years ago I was researching white chocolate for this Penuche Fudge recipe, and discovered that White Chocolate Chips are not made from white chocolate; it is mostly sugar and palm kernel oil.
The only way to know if you have REAL white chocolate is if Cocoa butter is listed in the ingredients. There is no brand of white chocolate chips that has Cocoa butter in the ingredients (this is because real white chocolate is too delicate to hold its shape as a chocolate chip.)
I like to use chopped Ghirardelli Premium Baking White Chocolate for these cookies, and any other cookie recipe that calls for white chocolate. The flavor, texture, and smoothness of the melted chocolate is absolutely incomparable to white baking chips. But still, I know people will ask…
Can I substitute white baking chips for white chocolate?
NO. I mean fine, I guess you can. They will still be great cookies. But they will not have reached their full potential! White chocolate baking chips are made from sugar and palm kernel oil and other solidifiers that help them maintain the chip-shape. They do not melt well and are rather chalky. They are a cheap and sugary substitute for the real thing. A high quality bar of white chocolate that you chop yourself is going to be infinitely better.
How to make White Chocolate Chip Cookies
First we’re going to start out with some butter. This recipe calls for a weird amount, 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup. Just use one stick of butter and then use a knife to cut a second stick on the 1/3 cup marking.
Don’t be a Crisco hater
Next up is some Crisco. Now don’t you turn your nose up at me! I know you are thinking that butter has got to be better, but hear me out: Butter brings the flavor. Crisco brings the texture. The SOFT texture, that is. Cookies made with all butter are going to be crispy and dry on day two. Cookies with a little bit of shortening are still going to be soft. This is why almost every bakery cookie you will ever try is going to have at least some shortening in it. The product simply lasts longer. Not that we need these cookies to last forever; right out of the oven they are going to have a softer texture than a cookie made with all butter.
And as my final defense for Crisco, I will remind you that Oreos are made from shortening. Are you going to stop eating Oreos anytime soon? Didn’t think so. All things in moderation, my friend.
Can you use all butter in these cookies? Yes totally! They will be delicious! Not quite as soft and puffy as this recipe though.
Here is our butter and Crisco, all friendly and creamed together. There are still a few lumps and that’s okay, they will come out when we add the sugar.
See? Here is the dough beaten with both kinds of sugar for a few minutes. Mix it nice and long (a couple minutes) to beat in lots of air! This helps our cookie rise and helps distribute the fat.
We are using whole wheat flour AND all purpose flour for this recipe. I love the texture and weight that comes from using whole wheat flour! It really gives another dimension to these cookies. We are not using whole flour to make these cookies healthy. (Did you see the 16 ounces of chocolate we are adding, hello.) You can easily sub all purpose flour if you’re not feeling it.
Don’t forget to add in some cinnamon! I love that extra bit of spice it brings! You can totally leave it out if you want, but I feel like it adds a great contrast to the white chocolate. Beat in the flour, but don’t overdo it. You still want to see flour streaks when you add in the white chocolate.
Chop it up and add it in! I used 12 ounces of chocolate in the dough, and reserved a full 4 ounce bar for pressing into the tops of the cookies. But I have made these with just 12 ounces of chocolate total, and they are still great. 16 ounces is kind of a lot of chocolate (no regrets). And I get it, real white chocolate is expensive!
Here’s about how big I make these cookies. If you are doing them large like I do, place about 8 cookies on a pan. You can fit up to 12 if you shape the cookies smaller (just be sure to decrease the bake time!)
Then, right after taking them out of the oven, be sure to use a spoon or spatula to nudge the edges of the cookies toward the center. See more details about this technique in my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I “spoon” almost every cookie that comes out of my kitchen these days. It is the easiest hack for getting your cookies richer, fudgier, and taller in the middle, with edges that don’t get too crispy. And bonus, it makes them perfectly round.
Can you freeze White Chocolate Chip Cookies?
You can freeze this dough and bake later! I like to shape the dough into balls and store them in a ziplock bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I never thaw cookie dough before baking. Just bake straight from frozen and add a couple minutes to the bake time. Voila! You can also freeze the baked cookies. Seal in a ziplock bag and let thaw at room temperature. A 10 second zap in the microwave never hurt anybody either!
I seriously hope you get to try out these cookies soon! Embrace the white-chocolate-whole-flour love! Happy weekend!
More cookie recipes you are going to love!
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies << these are made with white chocolate chips before I found out about the cocoa butter thing, and now I’m dying to remake them!
- Texas Cowboy Cookies << These cookies are loaded with everything but the kitchen sink! One of my most popular cookie recipes
- Skinny Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies << these have cinnamon in them as well, and I think they would be really good with white chocolate!
- Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies << this was my first ever post on The Food Charlatan!
- Chewy Cookies and Cream Cookies << these are stuffed with Oreos, white chocolate, dark chocolate, oh my!
- Perfectly Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies << Today I’m dreaming of stuffing these full of chopped white chocolate. Right??
- Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies << otherwise known as Chocolate Snickerdoodles. YUM!
- Caramel Apple Cookies from The First Year
- White Chocolate Craisin Granola Bars from Bless This Mess
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Oh So Delicioso
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Britta's White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup salted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening*, I like Crisco
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups whole wheat flour**, spooned and leveled
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 & 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 ounces Premium Baking White Chocolate***, divided. This is four (4-ounce) bars of white chocolate, see note
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a few baking sheets with parchment paper, or line with a silicone mat.
- Add 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening, or regular shortening will do. (You can also replace this with butter, see note!) Beat well into the butter, trying to get out most of the lumps.
- Add 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup packed brown sugar. Beat for another 2 minutes, taking the time to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl in between. Your butter and sugar should be light and fluffy with no chunks of butter.
- Add 2 eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat well, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add 2 cups whole wheat flour but don't mix it in yet (make sure you spoon and level your flour). Add 1 cup spooned and leveled all-purpose flour.
- Use a small spoon (I use my teaspoon) to stir 1 and 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt into the flour. Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Don't overdo it. There should still be flour streaks when you stop your mixer. Use a spatula to scrape down the edges of the bowl.
- Chop 12 ounces of white chocolate. I like to have varying sizes of white chocolate, anywhere from the size of a dime to the size of a quarter. If you want, you can chop the remaining 4 ounces of white chocolate now and set aside (it's for pressing into the tops of the cookies. Or you can just toss it into the dough and mix it in! Either way.)
- Add 12 ounces of white chocolate to the cookie dough and beat it in gently. Do not over mix the dough. You want all the flour streaks gone and to make sure all the ingredients are combined, but once that is done, stop mixing. Over mixing dough = tough cookies.
- Use a large cookie scoop or a spoon to shape the dough. I like dough balls that are about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches across (if you want smaller cookies, that's fine! Decrease the bake time.) Place cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet with about 2 inches in between them. I can usually fit between 8-12 cookies on an 11x17 baking sheet. If they are very large, do 8 cookies on a pan.
- Bake the cookies at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges are a very light golden and the edges have set. It's ok if the centers of the cookies (no more than the size of a quarter) are still shiny. The rest of the cookie should be matte.
- Shape the cookies. Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, use a spoon to push the edges of the cookies toward their centers. This makes the cookies round in shape and makes the center thicker and more chewy. You have to do this within 30-60 seconds of taking them out of the oven, before the edges harden. See my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe for more details about this technique!
- While the cookies are still warm, press the remaining 4 ounces of chopped white chocolate into the top of each cookie.
- Remove the cookies to a wire cooling rack and let cool. But you better eat at least one warm. With milk. Live your best life!
- Freezer instructions: You can freeze this dough and bake later! I like to shape the dough into balls and store them in a ziplock bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. I never thaw cookie dough before baking. Just bake straight from frozen and add a couple minutes to the bake time. Voila!
I used normal white chocolate chips and these cookies turned out fabulous
So happy to hear this Nicole!! I love these cookies, we make them way more often than you would think, my son loves white chocolate more than regular chocolate. Thanks so much for taking the time to review this recipe! Super helpful and kind ❤️
These are great but it’s straight up false that there is no brand of white chocolate chips that contain cocoa butter. Lindt and 365 both list them, both are major brands. I know of at least one other brand I can’t recall the name of right now. I find this to be a weird hill to die on and a strange claim. But hey, fun writing and great cookies, thanks!
Perhaps they have changed their ways! As of the writing of this article this was the best info I could find. I looked up the brands you mentioned, and you’re right, 365 does list cocoa butter, I am definitely trying out their chips! I’m actually super excited! (Who wants to chop a bar??) All the other brands I researched i just looked up again, and you’re right, some of them do have cocoa butter, but it’s listed AFTER palm kernel oil, which means it’s still mostly oil and not chocolate. NOT the flavor I want. Lindt doesn’t make chocolate chips (from what I can find??) I’m glad you liked the cookies Erik!! Thanks for commenting!
Oh yeah, I probably should have looked at the date. And yes, lindt does not make chips, but their bars list it. Makes sense about not wanting the oil flavor.
These cookies were amazing, even with the cheap white chocolate chips! A new favorite recipe!
I’m so happy you loved them Megan! My son just requested these for his birthday so I’ll be making these this week too :) Thanks so much for leaving a review!
I made these for my friends birthday. We both love white chocolate and these did not disappoint. This recipe does not skimp on the white chocolate and I like the variety of sizes of the chunks that chopping by hand creates. The whole wheat flour adds a nice depth of flavor, almost nutty. I have a couple of premixed spices I may try next time instead of just cinnamon, Pumpkin Pie spice and Apple Pie Spice jus for fun.
Ooh love the idea of adding apple pie spice to these cookies Linda! Great idea! I’m so glad you and your friend enjoyed them, thank you for reviewing. These cookies are definitely for white chocolate lovers!!
I agree with you on the white chocolate chips. I recently made cookies (still some Left) that’s how I know it was recent. Discovered two Girdradele bars in my stash one white one brown. I split the dough, added chopped maracheno cherries (left over from a Black Forrest cake). Awesome cookies. I noticed the brown ones got a bit darker. I go to your sight whatever I am making. I am a huge fan of you and your recipes and stories. Only my s2nd time writing as I hate being on the computer.
Karen, I had to comment on the white chocolate issue. Owning over 300 cookbooks, more than half being baking cookbooks, I learned many years ago why I also didn’t like white chocolate.
Brands like Nestles use what is referred to as “premier” white chocolate and ones like Ghirardelli use “premium” white chocolate. There is of course a huge difference. Hopefully, this will clear this up for you. Love your recipes!
I’m sure some brands of fake white chocolate chips are better than others, but none of them compare to using real white chocolate. It is only technically real white chocolate if it has cocoa butter in it. That’s the only standard I go by these days. I just check the ingredient list and make sure it’s there! Should be the second or third ingredient.
How have I never known about or eaten these cookies?? I feel like somehow I’ve been left out of some family secret all these years. I need to have a talk with my daughter. She has never, ever even once mentioned this recipe to me. We will have words.
Honestly, I was feeling a little betrayed too. Like Britta, where have these been all my life? I have been your sister-in-law for 13 years now, and not one mention of these cookies before this summer. Your mother has been your mother YOUR WHOLE LIFE. Do you even love us?? Where was the white chocolate love? 😂😂😂