These Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies are rich, buttery, and perfectly sweet. Filling them with fresh orange zest and dried cranberries makes them the perfect fall or winter cookies for the holiday season.
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📋 About the Recipe
- Rich and buttery - These shortbread cookies are soft, melt-in-your-mouth goodness! You won’t be able to resist having more than one. They're the perfect dessert for your holiday baking and Christmas cookie making.
- Just 7 ingredients - Shortbread cookies are primarily made with 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, and 3 parts flour. These cookies are also made with additional dried fruit and orange zest for flavor.
- Freezer friendly - These cookies can be frozen before or after baking. Great to prep and have in the freezer at all times for last minute easy cookie baking, just like these apple cider cookies.
🛒 Ingredients
A few notes about the ingredients:
- Sugar - Shortbread cookies are made primarily with powdered sugar because it yields a softer texture, perfect for buttery shortbread cookies. Powdered sugar can be sold as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar, too, so check your store shelves for those names if you don’t see "powdered" sugar.
- Butter - For the best, most consistent results, only use unsalted butter. Although salted butter is a fine substitute in savory recipes, it can yield altered results in baking, especially shortbread cookies.
- Flour - I have only tested these cookies using all-purpose flour.
- Cranberries - These shortbread cookies are inspired by some of my favorite flavors to enjoy in the fall. Dried cranberries are the perfect addition! Sweet, tart, and chewy.
- Orange zest - Fresh orange juice immediately elevates the flavors of these cookies and pairs perfectly with these buttery, sweet cookies.
⁉️ Substitutions and Alterations
- Vanilla extract substitutions: Almond extract is another great choice that pairs well with the flavors in the citrus and dried cranberries.
- Kosher salt: Substitute the kosher salt for ¼ teaspoon sea salt as needed.
- Dried cranberry substitution: Another dried fruit like raisins, dried currants, or dried chopped cherries would work too.
- Make with electric hand mixers: You can cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with electric hand mixers instead of a stand mixer.
📓 Instructions
- Prepare the sugar. In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and orange zest until well combined.
- Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Pour in the sugar and orange zest mixture. Continue beating for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix again until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. Slowly add the flour and salt into the stand mixer and mix until a dough comes together. Stop the stand mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Fold in the dried cranberries. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dried cranberries until well combined.
- Refrigerate or freeze the dough. Split the dough into two halves. Transfer each half of dough to a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll into a 2 ½-inch wide log. Tightly secure the ends and refrigerate for 4 hours, or freeze for 90 minutes.
- Prep and preheat. Once the dough is almost ready to remove from the refrigerator or freezer, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Coat the dough in sugar. Add granulated sugar to a shallow bowl or plate. Remove the logs from the refrigerator, or freezer and discard the plastic wrap. Coat the outside of each dough log in sugar.
- Slice the logs. Slice the logs about ¼-inch thick and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
❄️ How to Store
To Store: Shortbread cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
To Freeze: Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies can be frozen before or after baking. When freezing before baking, follow steps 1 through 6 then place the plastic wrapped logs in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, place in the refrigerator for 1 hour then start back up with step 7.
If freezing after baking, allow the cookies to cool completely, then place back on the baking sheet and flash freeze the cookies for 1 hour before transferring to a freezer safe bag or container. This will prevent sticking.
🔍 FAQs
The biggest difference between shortbread cookies and scotch cookies is the type of fat used. Shortbread cookies use just butter, whereas scotch cookies typically use a combination of butter and shortening. This results in cookies that are a bit crunchier than the notoriously soft shortbread cookies.
Cookies and pastries that contain a high percentage of fat are referred to as “short.” Shortbread cookies are known for being soft and crumbly with their high butter content, and thus earned the name Shortbread.
As with most cookies, over-mixing the dough over-activates the gluten and causes the dough to become tough, stretchy, and stringy. Mix the dough until just combined, not much longer.
Unlike other cookies that spread in the oven, shortbread cookies do not spread. When shortbread cookies are done, they will be lightly golden around the edges.
💭 One More Tip
Sift the powdered sugar before mixing into the dough. Powdered sugar tends to clump up together and can be difficult to mix smooth. To ensure your cookie batter is as smooth and buttery as possible, sift the powdered sugar using a fine mesh sieve before adding it to the batter.
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Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and orange zest until well combined.
- Add butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Pour in the sugar and orange zest mixture. Continue beating for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix until combined.
- Slowly add in the flour and salt, mixing until the dough comes together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the dried cranberries.
- Divide the dough into two equal halves. Transfer each half of dough to a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll into a 2½-inch wide log. Tightly secure the ends and refrigerate for 4 or more hours, or freeze for 90 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add some more granulated sugar to a shallow bowl or plate. Remove the logs from the fridge/freezer and discard the plastic wrap. Coat the outside of each dough log in sugar.
- Slice the logs about ¼-inch thick and place them 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 3 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- This recipe would also work with lemon zest in place of orange zest.
- Use high quality vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla) for the best flavor.
- Make sure to sift the powdered sugar before mixing into the dough. Powdered sugar tends to clump up together and can be difficult to mix smooth. To ensure your cookie batter is as smooth and buttery as possible, sift the powdered sugar using a fine mesh sieve before adding it to the batter.
Nutrition
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