Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
These tender, buttery cranberry orange shortbread cookies are so much fun to make! Just bursting with wintry holiday flavor!
It's November people! Can you believe it??
This morning I saw a Christmas commercial on tv and I got all warm and fuzzy. I think I'm really ready for the holiday season!
And I've got a great way to kick it off for us: Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies!
A) They're cookies, which, duh. I don't think there is any better way to celebrate the holidays than with cookies. Pretty sure Santa would agree.
And B) Cranberry orange! So perfectly wintry! When I taste these flavors it takes me straight to chilly days, raking leaves, Thanksgiving, and holiday shopping.
And the cranberry orange flavor really comes through in these sweet little shortbread cookies. At the first bite, it's like, whoa. No doubt about it. It's a cranberry orange party in your mouth.
I think you'll love the tender-crisp texture and buttery flavor too. Just be sure to chop your dried cranberries very finely, otherwise you might have a little trouble cutting out your shapes.
I'm including links to some of my most-favoritest cutout cookie tools just below the recipe card, so be sure to keep scrolling! These tools make cookie baking foolproof and so much fun!
Happy November!
More great cookie recipes on my "Cookie Recipes Galore" Pinterest board!
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Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, (you may need as much as 3 ½ cups)
- ⅓ cup (42.67 g) cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) kosher salt
- ⅔ cup (80.81 g) dried sweetened cranberries, very finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) orange zest, (from about 1 orange)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer, and beat on medium-low speed until smooth.
- Add the egg and vanilla, and continue to beat until incorporated.
- Add 3 cups of the flour, the cornstarch, and salt, and stir on low speed until a stiff dough has formed.
- If the dough still feels sticky, add more flour (¼ cup at a time) until it pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.
- Stir in the dried cranberries and orange zest.
- Between 2 sheets of parchment paper, roll the dough to a thickness of ⅛-inch.
- Use a 2 ½-inch fluted round cookie cutter to cut shapes.
- Place the unbaked cookies on the prepared baking sheets, and bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden around the edges.
I just made these and they're soo good but I knew I would be the only one in my family eating them so I divided the dough in half and rolled out the first half as plain sugar cookies and then added cranberries and orange zest to the other half. I also mixed powdered sugar and orange juice to make a glaze for them.
Just wondering why you used granular sugar and not the icing sugar as traditional short bread cookies do Thanks in advance for the recipe.
What a treat! I used diced, mostly fresh cranberries, and few dried cranberries to have enough to double the recipe... I didn’t reduce the flour as fresh cranberries are not as juicy as other berries. They turned out great, and now I have to make another double batch because my children devoured them before their father and I could have a few! Thank you so much for this scrumptious recipe!
Sharon
Hi Ally, I wonder if I can use fresh cranberries for this recipe, I have everything but dried cranberries. Thank you 🙂
Hey Odeza! I'm not sure you'd be able to roll this dough very well with berries that big. Perhaps if you chopped them first? But keep in mind that fresh berries will give off a lot of juice as they bake.
I just made the snickerdoodle cookies, and they turned out great. A new go to recipe.
So happy to hear that! Thanks for the 5-star rating on this one as well!
Hi!! Do I have to chill the dough before I star rolling it??
Hey Roberta! It's not necessary, but if you want to, I would suggest using a bit less flour because this dough will become more dry and crumbly as it sits. Good luck!
I love the combination of these seasonal flavours, lovely xoxo
Thank you so much Beverley!
I will definitely be trying these cookies out as soon as I can...Thamks for the recipe Allie!
That's so great to hear, Geraldine! I hope you love them as much as we did 🙂
I just got the first batch out of the oven, they didn't even have time to cool before my son grab them to eat. These will be a new staple to my baking book
Oh that's wonderful Melissa! Thank you so much for the great feedback. Hope you and your son enjoy!
Since last week I've been thinking about making something with cranberries & orange in it! I think I've found it 🙂 These cookies look perfect, Allie!
Hooray! Talk about great timing! So happy you like this idea Julia. Hope you enjoy!
These look delicious! Will be trying them very soon. I'm really enjoying your blog and recipes!
Thanks MinShien! I'm so glad you're enjoying!
These look great. I will be auditioning this for my Christmas baking.
Awesome! Hope you enjoy them Christina!