Oh yeah. Sugar cookie meets tart, sweet, chewy dried cranberries. The ultimate Christmas rush, and as pretty as they are delicious. Got 10 minutes? Let’s make some!
The key to this whole thing is to find the best dried cranberries you can. I use Ocean Spray, and they have been perfect every time. Don’t forget your Christmas inspirational kitchen gear – let’s get into the spirit of this whole thing.
The dough comes together in a snap, and is pretty much your regular cookie strategy…Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs (one at a time please, and wait one minute before each addition), then in go the dry ingredients. When you’ve got that accomplished, just slow things down and stir in the cranberries. Yes, there are quite a few, but you will understand why once you take your first bite.
Now it’s production time, and I do not horse around with small cookies. These guys are big – a generous two tablespoons of dough in each one. It is the holidays, after all. Let’s not be stingy. A medium sized ice cream scoop, or big tablespoon works well for this. Just scoop them out and smoosh them down with your fingers or the bottom of a glass.
…Bake for about 15 minutes, or until you see the edges turn just the slightest shade of brown. This will give you a soft and chewy experience. If you prefer a crisper cookie, just leave them in for another five minutes. And now you can grab a handful, put them on your favorite Christmas plate, sit yourself down in front of the Christmas tree and dig in!
Save some for Santa!!! Happy holidays everyone!! xoxox
Holiday Cranberry Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup room temperature butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 cups dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating one minute between the additions of each egg. Mix in vanilla.
- Turn mixer to low speed, and add baking powder, salt, and flour.
- Add dried cranberries and continue to mix just until cranberries are evenly incorporated.
- Using a small ice cream scoop or large spoon, drop cookies onto greased cookie sheet. (My cookies are about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie). Press down gently with your fingers or the bottom of a glass.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown and top looks set. If you like a very crisp cookie, just leave in the oven for about 5 more minutes.