
These wholesome dried fruit cookies are filled with pecans and dried cherries. Whether or not it’s the vacation season, otherwise you simply need a fruit-based dessert, these cookies are good! Whip them up with simple prep and solely 10 minutes of cooking time. They’ve a chewy texture and are low in sugar too!

These cookies are a little bit harking back to fruitcake – in a great way! They’re speckled with nuts and cherries and have a moist, decadent texture. To your family and friends who love fruitcake, you’ll be able to name them fruitcake cookies. For those who don’t? Simply skip the reference and name them dried fruit cookies! They’ll love them, I promise!
I prefer to bake these cookies all yr lengthy, however they shine as an important edible present throughout the holidays, star dessert on the kitchen desk, or as a potluck recipe to convey to a Christmas celebration.
To be trustworthy, fruitcake was really my inspiration for this cookie. A fruitcake is made with dried fruit and nuts – these are two issues I can get behind! So, I made a decision to present this traditional vacation recipe a makeover.
As an alternative of a dense, aged cake that always incorporates synthetic colours, I’ve taken all the nice elements of the recipe for a cookie variation. You’ll maintain the fruit and the nuts, for a light-weight and wholesome low-sugar dessert everybody will take pleasure in. Blissful baking!
- Low-Fats: These vacation fruitcake cookies are made with wholesome elements and are comparatively low in fats, utilizing solely ½ cup of butter for your complete batch of cookies.
- Low-Sugar: The quantity of sugar on this dry fruit cookies recipe is diminished with solely ½ cup for your complete recipe. Added sugars are additionally averted as a result of this recipe makes use of unsweetened dried cherries slightly than the standard sweetened cherries. Most fruitcake cookies recipes use candied fruit, which signifies that they’re loaded with sugar. With this cookie, you’ll get the tartness from the cherries, which compliments the chewy cookie dough and the crunchy pecans.
- All Pure Substances: This simple fruit cookies recipe makes use of all-natural entire meals elements — you received’t discover any synthetic colours or flavors right here!
- Fiber: As an alternative of utilizing conventional white baking flour, this recipe requires entire wheat flour or oat flour, which provides fiber to those vacation fruit cookies.
- Child-Pleasant: I’ve by no means met a child who passes up a cookie, and these dried fruit cookies shall be no exception. They’re chewy with a little bit of crunch from the pecans and tartness from the cherries. Your youngsters shall be asking for multiple, and with solely 6 grams of added sugar per cookie, it is a deal with you’ll be able to be ok with serving!
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🥘 Substances
This simple fruity cookies recipe calls for easy elements you could simply discover on the grocery retailer! Similar to with any tasty cookies, you’ll use the classics which might be pantry staples in most households.

- Butter: Ensure to let the butter come to room temperature earlier than you start making ready the dough.
- Egg: Massive eggs are commonplace for baking recipes, so make sure to use that dimension for this cookie.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar imparts a molasses-like taste. Use both gentle or darkish brown sugar — the latter could have a extra intense taste.
- Milk: Utilizing full-fat milk helps to present these chewy cookies loads of richness, however you’ll be able to go for a lower-fat model when you favor.
- Complete Wheat Flour: This kind of flour builds simply the fitting construction for this scrumptious cookie. All function flour can be utilized too.
- Baking Soda: A leavening agent, baking soda helps the cookie rise and contributes to its texture. Baking powder might be used however the baking soda is greatest.
- Salt: Salt helps to convey out the very best in all the elements of this dried fruit cookies recipe.
- Pecans: A mixture of chopped and entire nuts helps to present a diversified texture within the cookie.
- Unsweetened Dried Cherries: These assist to present the cookie a conventional fruitcake-like look and likewise impart traditional cherry taste.
🍲 Ingredient Substitutions
- Sugar: You need to use one other sugar various to the brown sugar, like cane sugar, monk fruit, or coconut sugar.
- Fruit Combination: Any dried fruit will work instead of the cherries. Raisins, currants, dried cranberries would all be scrumptious. We additionally love to make use of a mixture of different dried fruits like dried apricots or craisins for combined dried fruit cookies!
- Nuts: Substitute macadamia nuts, walnuts, or your favourite selection in these scrumptious cookies.
- Inexperienced Cherries: To extra intently replicate fruitcake, add candied inexperienced cherries.
Right here’s the way to make this simple dried fruit cookie recipe. For extra detailed directions and diet information, see the recipe card beneath.
Mix Butter and Sugar: Place butter and brown sugar in a big bowl of an electrical mixer with a paddle attachment or a meals processor, and beat with an electrical mixer for two minutes at medium velocity. You need the combination to be gentle and fluffy.

Add Moist Substances: Add the egg and milk to the creamed combination and beat to mix completely.

Add Dry Substances: In a separate small bowl, whisk collectively the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Mix Moist and Dry Substances: Add half the flour combination into the butter combination and mix absolutely. Then, add the remaining half and beat till mixed. Don’t over-mix.

Add Nuts and Fruit: Stir within the pecans and combined fruit.

Portion The Dough: Use a small cookie scoop to portion out the tender dough after which refrigerate for 1 hour.

Bake The Cookies: Preheat the oven to 400 F and take away cookie dough from the fridge. Ensure your cookies are spaced 2″ aside on parchment paper or silicone mat-lined cookie sheet pans. Place within the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or till golden brown.
Cool: Permit the chewy fruit cookies to chill for one minute on the cookie sheet earlier than transferring to a cooling rack to come back to room temperature.

💭 Skilled Ideas
- Combine Individually: Combine moist elements and dry elements in separate bowls earlier than combining.
- Be Aware Of Bowl Dimension: Slowly add the dry elements to the moist elements, which suggests you’ll need to put the moist elements in a bigger bowl.
- Use A Cookie Scoop: This useful kitchen software helps you get completely uniform cookies.
- Refrigerate Cookie Balls Earlier than Baking: This course of solidifies the fats within the cookies. Because of this when the cookies are baking, it would take longer for the chilled fats to soften than room temperature fats which is able to assist maintain the Christmas fruit cookies from spreading an excessive amount of after they bake.
- For Crispier Cookies: For those who favor crispy dried fruit Christmas cookies, bake for nearer to 10-12 minutes.
📖 Variations
If you wish to make an upgraded variation of fruitcake, stick near this recipe for fruit cookies. However if you wish to get inventive within the kitchen, you’ll be able to strive these concepts!
- Dried Fruit Oatmeal Cookies: Use an oatmeal cookie base made with old style oats or fast oats. Then, fold within the nut and fruit add-ins for the proper oatmeal dried fruit cookies!
- Add Maple Taste: For one thing a little bit completely different, experiment with utilizing maple syrup instead of a few of the sugar.
- Extract: Add vanilla extract so as to add heat perfume and stability out the flavors or almond extract so as to add extra nutty taste.
- Chocolate Chips: There could also be no higher technique to sweeten up a particular cookie than with the magic of chocolate chips. Use milk chocolate, darkish chocolate, or semisweet chips – or use white chocolate, which works effectively with the cherries.
- High With Glaze: After the cookies have cooled on the wire rack, drizzle them with a powdered sugar glaze.
- Extra Add-Ins: Attempt utilizing a path combine with dried cherries instead of the nuts and cherries for an out-of-this-world tackle this straightforward cookie.
🍽 Serving Recommendations
You possibly can serve these dried fruit and nut cookies as a snack all on their very own or pair them up with some scrumptious drinks or toppings. Listed here are a number of concepts:
- Ice Cream: Dip these cookies into ice cream or use them to make an ice cream sandwich.
- Milk: Dunk them right into a tall glass of chilly milk or a milk various like oat milk, almond milk, or soy milk.
- Scorching Drinks: These are scrumptious served with scorching espresso, tea, or scorching chocolate. I personally love them with this oat milk scorching chocolate.
- Eggnog: Get within the vacation spirit and sip some eggnog with these festive Christmas cookies with dried fruit!
🙌 Dietary Variations
- Vegan Possibility: Use coconut oil or vegan butter instead of the butter, a flax egg instead of the egg, and your alternative of dairy-free milk instead of the cow’s milk.
- Gluten-Free Possibility: For a gluten-free recipe, use gluten-free oat flour or an all-purpose gluten free flour combine.
🫙 Storage Instructions
To Retailer At Room Temperature: Retailer the dried fruit and nut combine cookies in an hermetic container for as much as 3 days.
To Freeze: For those who’d prefer to make these cookies upfront, you’ll be able to freeze the cookie dough. Right here is the way to maintain them:
- Roll the cookie dough into a protracted log.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and retailer in an hermetic container.
- Once you’re able to bake the cookies, take the dough out of the freezer. Permit to thaw at room temperature.
- Roll dough into balls after which refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Bake the candy cookies as directed.
❓Recipe FAQs
Most dried fruits are nice for baking into cookies and breads. Raisins could also be the most typical, however dried plums, cherries, prunes, and dates are standard, too. Cookies with dried fruit could appear a bit boring, however they are often simply as tasty and candy as common chocolate chip cookies!
Keep away from dried fruit that has any sugar added to it. Dried fruit doesn’t want added sugar since fruit is already candy, and the addition of it reduces how wholesome dried fruit can really be.
Completely! Fruits which were dehydrated are simple to maintain readily available, because of their prolonged shelf lives, and they’re a top-notch technique to elevate your baked items. Simply add them into any recipe in the identical approach you’ll common dried fruit.
It may be a good suggestion to soak the dried fruit previous to baking, because the dried fruits will naturally take in a few of the moist elements. Nonetheless, that is completely elective and won’t throw off the measurements an excessive amount of.

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📋 Recipe Card
Dried Fruit Cookies
These wholesome dried fruit cookies are filled with pecans and dried cherries. Whether or not it’s the vacation season, otherwise you simply need a fruit-based dessert, these cookies are good! Whip them up with simple prep and solely 10 minutes of cooking time. They’ve a chewy texture and are low in sugar too!
Servings: 16 cookies
Energy: 199kcal
- Combine Individually: Combine moist elements and dry elements in separate bowls earlier than combining.
- Be Aware Of Bowl Dimension: Slowly add the dry elements to the moist elements, which suggests you’ll need to put the moist elements in a bigger bowl.
- Use A Cookie Scoop: This useful kitchen software helps you get completely uniform cookies.
- Refrigerate Cookie Balls Earlier than Baking: This course of solidifies the fats within the cookies. Because of this when the cookies are baking, it would take longer for the chilled fats to soften than room temperature fats which is able to assist maintain the Christmas fruit cookies from spreading an excessive amount of after they bake.
- For Crispier Cookies: For those who favor crispy dried fruit Christmas cookies, bake for nearer to 10-12 minutes.
- Every cookie has 6 grams of added sugar, the remaining sugar is from the cherries.
- To make these cookies vegan, use coconut oil instead of the butter, a flax egg instead of the egg, and your alternative of dairy free milk instead of the milk.
- To make these cookies gluten free, use gluten free oat flour.
Serving: 1cookie | Energy: 199kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fats: 12g | Saturated Fats: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 2g | Monounsaturated Fats: 4g | Trans Fats: 0.3g | Ldl cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 277mg | Potassium: 88mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 11g
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