Dried Cranberry & Orange Shortbread Cookies

Dessert

Dec 9

Written By Kyle Schermbeck

I recently had my first cranberry bliss bar from Starbucks, and loved the combination of orange and cranberry together. Shortbread is the perfect base for powerful and full flavors, so a dried cranberry and orange cookie seemed like the perfect idea - and I think it was! Dried Cranberry and Orange Shortbread Cookies are buttery, slightly chewy and packed with the tartness of dried cranberries and sweetness of the juice and zest of an orange. These may be a new favorite Christmas cookie! Enjoy!

Jump to Recipe

So, what are we making?

Shortbread cookies are perfect. They are so easy, require just a few ingredients and can serve as the vehicle to deliver some really incredible flavor pairings. The key to good shortbread is to make sure your ingredients are at room temperature, and beat the butter until its fluffy and creamy, and start to turns white. Let your butter come to room temperature - try not to soften it in the microwave if you can help it!

This is important. You’ve got to chill your dough with this recipe. Because there is so much butter, if you don’t chill your dough, you’ll end up with flat, cracker-like cookies. The butter needs time to solidify, so the cookies maintain their shape while baking.

Also, this recipe is for slice and bake cookies - which requires an additional chilling step. If you’d like, you could also roll the dough, and cut the cookies with a cookie cutter. Place them on a cookie sheet, and chill for about 90 minutes. This won’t necessarily save you time, but it will save a step!

What do I need?

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 - 3 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 orange, zested and juiced

1/2 cup dried cranberries

How do I make these?

Step One: In a bowl, cream together 1 cup softened butter, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 brown sugar and 1 teaspoon salt until creamy and fluffy. About 5 minutes.

Step Two: To the bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and the juice and zest of one orange. Continue beating until fully incorporated. 2-3 minutes.

Step Three: Next, while the mixer is still running, slowly add in your flour about 1/2 cup at a time. Let the flour fully incorporate until adding more. Add flour until a dough forms and doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. The amount of flour will depend on how much juice you were able to get from your orange. You shouldn’t need more than 3 cups.

Step Four: Once dough is made, remove the bowl from the mixer. Then, pour in 1/2 cup dried cranberries and gently fold into the dough. When the cranberries are mixed in, place the dough onto a piece of wax paper. With your hands, form the dough into a long rectangle. Then using the wax paper, form the dough into cylinder. Wrap the cylinder completely in the wax paper and place in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.

Step Five: While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the dough is chilled, remove from the refrigerator and cut roll into slices approximately 1/3 inch thick and place on baking sheet(s) about 2 inches apart. Place back into the refrigerator to chill for another 30-45 minutes.

Step Six: Remove from refrigerator and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges. Let cool and enjoy!