These cookies didn’t turn out perfectly the first time — the dough was a bit too soft and many of them crumbled — but they tasted wonderful, so I plan to make them again. I managed to cut three intact cookies with a small cutter and photograph them before the rest became a crumbly cranberry mess.
Below is the recipe if you’d like to try it.
Yield: one dozen cookies
Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/2 cup finely chopped dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the mixture is combined but not overly creamy. Gently fold in the chopped dried cranberries.
- Press the dough evenly into an 8-inch square baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the shortbread is set and a pale golden color. Allow it to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then transfer to a work surface and use a small 2″ cookie cutter to cut the cookies. Makes about a dozen cookies.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies (2006).