Cranberry Shortbread Cookies (easy slice and bake cookies)
Servings: 21 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour (155g) spooned and leveled, not scooped
- 1 stick + 2 tablespoons cold butter (145g) cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar (60g)
- zest grated from 1 large orange or 2 medium/small oranges
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries (70g)
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except the cranberries into a mixing bowl.
- Mix with a stand mixer using a paddle-shaped attachment at low speed until the butter chunks are very small and the mixture looks like a crumble. The dough should almost come together, but it should still be crumbly. You can check the photos in the body of the post or the video for reference. (You can also combine the ingredients by hand - rub the butter with flour and other ingredients until crumbles form. You can also use a pastry cutter for that.)
- Roughly chop the cranberries and add them to the bowl. Mix until the dough comes together (you should have big clumps of smooth dough in the bowl).
- Gather the clumps of dough and place them on a piece of plastic foil. Wrap the dough in the foil and shape into a 2-inches (5cm) thick log.
- Put the cookie dough in the freezer to chill and firm up for 30 minutes or refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Unwrap the cookie dough and cut with a sharp knife into 1/3-inch (3/4 cm) slices (slicing/sewing motion is more efficient).
- Place the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2-inches (5cm) apart. If your slices are not nicely round or not of even thickness, you can shape them now to improve their shape.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 10 minutes. The baking time may vary depending on the oven (also, the second batch cooks a little bit quicker). The cookies should be just slightly golden at the bottom but pale on top and at the edges. They will be very soft and will finish baking on the baking sheet. Leave them on the baking sheet until firm enough to pick up then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If your cookies have spread more than you would like, you can shape their edges using a spoon right after taking them out of the oven, when they're still very soft (just push their edges slightly toward the middle).Bake the cookies in batches - while you're baking the first batch, put the remaining dough back in the freezer. Slice the next batch of the dough only when you are ready to bake.
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- These cookies are moderately sweet, if you'd like them sweeter, you can dip half of a cookie in melted white chocolate.
- You can bake these cookies a little bit longer (30-60 seconds), until the edges are slightly golden, if you want your cookies more crunchy.
- How to measure flour: I’m using the “spoon and level method” so 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
- Calories = 1 cookie (1/21 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
Nutrition
Calories: 99kcal