Every year, when the fresh cranberries arrive in the produce section of my store, I have an inner battle with myself: “Ann, you know you never use a whole bag of these and end up feeling guilty when you throw the rest away.” I’ve been known to keep sad looking bags of cranberries in my freezer for years just because I don’t want to waste them.
Well, this year I lost the inner battle once again as I was reeled in by the beautiful, shiny red berries. I usually make a few loaves of cranberry-orange bread and then have almost half a bag left that I don’t know what to do with.
So, I did some research this year and while it’s true that most cookie recipes call for dried cranberries, I did find a few exceptions. After a bit of tweaking (to match my family’s tastes), I came up with this cookie recipe.
Fresh Cranberry-Orange Cookies
- 2 cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 orange (divided)
- 14 Tablespoons butter (1 ¾ sticks) softened
- 1 room temp egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries*
Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon milk (or orange juice)
- Zest from other half of orange
In a medium bowl, whisk: the flour, baking powder, salt and cornstarch together. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and the zest of ½ an orange together until the sugar is perfumed with the orange. Add the softened butter and cream for 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix well. Pour in the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Fold in the cranberries*.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls or drop it by tablespoons onto the prepared pans. With your fingers, lightly flatten the tops. (If your dough is too soft, chill for 30 minutes).
Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through (they will be light in color). Cool completely.
Whisk the glaze ingredients together and drizzle onto the cooled cookies. Milk will give you a more opaque glaze and orange juice will give you a clearer result.
*Cranberries are a pain to chop, they tend to fly off the cutting board. I used a small food processor instead.
I glazed half of the cookies and left the other half plain (my guys don’t like sugary cookies). Either way, these turned out to be buttery, like shortbread, with a fresh zing from the cranberries and citrus. Delicious!
Your family will never know you were just trying to get rid of the rest of your cranberries!
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