Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
Jazz up classic shortbread cookies by adding cranberries and orange zest. These easy Cranberry Orange Shortbread cookies are great for the holidays and look great dressed up or dressed down.
Servings: 16 Cookies
Calories: 246kcal
Ingredients
for the cookies:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- zest of one orange
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
for the glaze:
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons half-and-half
Instructions
- Finely chop your cranberries in a food processor, then put the cranberries in a small bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, sugar and orange zest to the food processor and cream together until well combined.
- Add the flour and vanilla to the food processor and pulse just until the ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be crumbly.
- Add the dough to the cranberries and gently fold them in until they are distributed.
- Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it with your hands until no longer crumbly.
- Form the dough into a 10-12 inch log. Wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for 2 hours, up to overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Slice the dough into slices (I cut mine to be about 1/3" thick) and place each slice on the cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges start to turn golden.
- Meanwhile, make the glaze by mixing all the glaze ingredients together by hand until smooth, adding more half-and-half if a thinner glaze is desired.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack. The cookies will firm up as they cool. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies, add 2-3 sugared cranberries, serve and ENJOY!
Notes
- Be careful not to over-beat the butter. When making shortbread cookies you do not want to beat a lot of air into the butter, you want more of a dense cookie than a fluffy one!
- Frosted cookies will keep, in an air-tight container in the refrigerator, for up to 5 days. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator 1 hour before serving.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 246kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 409IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg