Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies are a simple yet festive cookie for the holiday season. A wonderful addition to any holiday cookie tray.
Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies for the Holidays
Shortbread cookies are a personal favorite of mine. Over the years I've made many different versions, but these Cranberry Orange Shortbread cookies are among my best. The addition of walnuts makes the cookies richer and even more of a seasonal delight.
Making Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
Here is a quick visual walk through of the preparation of these shortbread cookies. Experienced bakers may prefer to jump down to the printable recipe card below.
Ingredients for the Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup confectionery sugar
- 2 tbs orange juice
- 2 tbs orange zest
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups flour all-purpose is fine
- ⅔ cup walnuts finely chopped
- ⅔ cup dried cranberries chopped
Process of Making
I am not going to walk you through mixing the dough, but did want you to get a good idea of what your logs of dough should look like. The chilling not only firms the dough up due to the butter hardening, but the flour binds together too. This makes cutting the shortbread far easier and the cookies will better hold their shape. The Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookie dough is rolled into two equal logs and wrapped and refrigerated to firm up.
Now Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Once the shortbread dough is firm, you have slice and bake cookies. The logs are cut into ½ inch thick slices, then laid out on parchment lined baking sheets.
After baking the Cranberry Orange Shortbread cookies are completely cooled on a wire rack before serving or packing to gift.
If you like this recipe, check out these!
- Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies
- Double Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Walnut Meyer Lemon Shortbread Cookies Recipe
- Cranberry Orange Donuts with Orange Ginger Glaze
Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies with Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup confectionery sugar
- 2 tbs orange juice
- 2 tbs orange zest
- ½ teaspoon orange extract
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups flour all-purpose is fine
- ⅔ cup walnuts finely chopped
- ⅔ cup dried sweetened cranberries chopped
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar.
- In a small separate bowl mix salt in orange juice to dissolve then add to butter mixture along with the zest and extract, and mix.
- Add the flour and mix well, then fold in the walnuts and dried cranberries as best you can.
- Knead the dough lightly, enough to evenly distribute the pieces, then split in half and roll into two logs about 2 inches thick. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to firm up.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cut each cookie dough log into slices about ⅜" thick. Arrange on parchment. These shortbread cookies will not expand much at all, but leave a little space between them.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, then remove to rack to cool.
Nutrition
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