Christmas Cranberry Orange Cookies
These festive cranberry orange cookies feature a soft, buttery base enriched with citrus zest and juice, then finished with a smooth orange icing. Dried cranberries add a tart, chewy contrast that makes the cookies especially fitting for holiday baking.
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Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 large egg brought to room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups dried cranberries chopped if the pieces are large
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon orange zest taken from about 1 large orange
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour such as King Arthur
For the Icing
- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest avoiding the bitter white pith
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons orange juice preferably freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with the granulated sugar and firmly packed brown sugar until the mixture appears evenly combined and light in texture.
- Add the egg, orange juice, and orange zest to the butter mixture. Mix thoroughly until the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda until evenly distributed.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, blending until a cohesive cookie dough forms.
- Fold the dried cranberries into the dough by hand, distributing them evenly throughout.
- Drop tablespoon-sized portions of dough onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving enough space between each portion for spreading during baking.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookie edges turn lightly golden.
- Allow the baked cookies to rest on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes.
- Transfer the cookies to cooling racks and let them cool completely before icing.
- While the cookies cool, prepare the icing by combining the powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a medium bowl. Stir until the mixture becomes smooth.
- Drizzle the orange icing over the fully cooled cookies.
- Let the icing firm completely on the cookies.
- To help the icing set more quickly, place the cookies in the freezer briefly.
- Once the icing has hardened, store the cookies in an airtight container to preserve freshness.