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Home » Bakery » Cranberry Orange Shortbread
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Cranberry Orange Shortbread

By Rachael | Updated on November 15, 2018

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Cranberry and orange flavors meld beautifully in this vibrant, and buttery shortbread. It is delicious, easy to make, and a great gifting idea for the holidays!

Cranberry orange shortbread is flavorful and easy to make and great for holidays

If your holidays are anything like mine then you probably have a lot of demands on your time. Good demands, but demands none the less. In my industry, it is Q4, which means everyone is doing their end of year spends, and there is a lot of work to do. Add to that family, traditions, school, kids being out of school, and all those other things, and well…frankly it can be exhausting trying to keep up.

I am exhausted just writing about it. But you know what? There are ways to cut down the chaos and enjoy the time you do have with family and friends a little more by doing a few things ahead of time. Like freezing holiday treats.

cranberry-orange-shortbread-in-bag

One thing I love making ahead are my cookie. The holidays are just known for cookies. In fact, one of my favorite traditions is attending a cookie exchange. So today I want to talk about how to easy prepare some amazing cranberry orange shortbread cookies ahead of time, then freeze in Hefty Slider Bags. When you are ready to use them, or have unexpected holiday guests, you just have to pull them out of the freezer, slice, and bake! So eazy peazy.

 

Basically, when you use this method you get all the taste of homemade with the convenience of store bought. Plus this recipe is super easy so you are going to be able to whip up a batch to stick in the freezer in just ten minutes. I love that because sometimes I only have a few tiny windows of time between things, and now I can use them to be productive and get some of my holiday baking started.

Cranberry Orange shortbread cookies

So for these cookies you just mix dried cranberries and sugar together with some orange zest. I usually stick them in my food processor for a few pulses to cut the cranberries down a bit. But you could skip that. Then in a big bowl mix together some four, sugar, butter, orange juice, and vanilla. Stir in the orange zest, sugar, cranberry mix, then roll into a log and freeze!

Then the day you are ready to bake them, pull them out maybe 10-15 minutes before you are ready to bake, like while you let the oven preheat, then slice, stick them on a sprayed pan and bake! So simple. But even cooler is you can use this same cookie dough as a gift. Hefty has these darling bag toppers that you can spruce up the freezer bag so it is cute enough to gift, and just add instructions! How easy is that? And who wouldn’t want one of these tasty cookies as a holiday treat?

hefty-cranberry-orange-shortbread

Let’s get to the recipe already:

Cranberry orange shortbread is flavorful and easy to make and great for holidays

Cranberry Orange Shortbread

A flavorful cranberry orange shortbread great for holiday entertaining.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cranberry, orange, shortbread
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 282kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cranberries
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar Yes, more sugar, the first sugar is to mix with the cranberries, so I put them separate so it would not be confusing
  • 1 cup softened butter or at least not rock hard
  • 1 tbs orange juice (I just squeezed in juice from the orange I zested.
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  • In a food processor, or a bowl, combine orange zest, cranberries, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Pulse to break cranberries down in size a bit so they are easier to eat in the cookies.
  • In a bowl stir together flour and 1/2 cup sugar
  • Cut butter into the bowl, and then use a wooden spoon or your hands to combine the mixture together. It will be a sandy texture.
  • Stir in orange juice, vanilla, and cranberry mixture, and combine well
  • Lay out a piece of plastic wrap, and dump 1/3 the shortbread dough onto it, roll it into a log. It will still be crumbly, so use the plastic wrap to help you get it to hold together. Repeat for the rest of the dough.
  • Put the rolls of shortbread dough into a Hefty Quart Freezer Slider Bag, and label
  • When ready to bake, pull out of freezer, preheat oven to 350
  • Slice about 1 centimeter or so thick
  • Place on sprayed cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes
  • Let rest on sheet 2 minutes, then move to cooling rack
  • Let cool and enjoy

Notes

If you do not want to freeze the dough, and want to use it immediately, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and bake only 6-8 minutes, until slightly browned on edges.

Nutrition

Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 135mg | Potassium: 35mg | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 475IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1.2mg

Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.

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Doesn’t that look fun? Okay, so don’t forget to Pin it, and don’t forget to check out the fun gift ideas and bag toppers over on the Hefty website.

An easy to make, and flavorful Cranberry Orange Shortbread. Great for holiday entertaining. Make these cookies ahead and freeze for easier prep during the holidays.

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Related

Related categories:
Bakery Dessertbaking cookies cranberry cookies cranberry orange holiday baking shortbread

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Eddy G. says

    December 16, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    Am making these as I type this . . . they are chilling and getting ready to be baked. Just curious as to the yield. To make prep easier, I placed the flour and 1/2 cup of sugar in the food processor bowl. Gave it a couple of pulses to mix the ingredients, then cut the butter into 1 Tablespoon pieces and pulsed until I had a mixture that resembled pie dough. (Sandy looking) I then dumped it into a bowl and used the processor again (no cleaning needed) for the 1/4 cup of sugar, cranberries and the zest. Next I mixed the vanilla and the orange juice with the dough, added the cranberry mixture, and the dough came together perfectly. I know they'll be great.
    Reply
    • Rachael says

      December 19, 2015 at 1:42 am

      Oh that is such a good idea for preparation. Thanks for sharing. I can't believe I did not include yield. So sorry about that. I got 24 cookies, cut to about a centimeter in thickness, and maybe an inch and a half in diameter.
      Reply
  2. Amy says

    December 22, 2015 at 3:28 am

    Just made a double batch. Hmm. Flavor is good but it needs probably a teaspoon of salt, as they were bland. I agree, pulse the flour, sugar, butter mixture in the food processor. I'll play with the recipe again adding a bit of salt. I also thought it would crumble like shortbread and it didn't. Star rating won't work but I'd say 3 stars until I get it right.
    Reply
    • Rachael says

      December 24, 2015 at 7:01 pm

      Thank you for your feedback.
      Reply
  3. Becky says

    December 16, 2016 at 8:32 am

    Do I use fresh or dried cranberries?
    Reply
    • Rachael says

      December 19, 2016 at 12:02 am

      I use fresh. But you could use either.
      Reply
  4. Bonnie says

    December 22, 2018 at 11:34 am

    I know that you said to cut them into 1 centimeter thick slices....roughly a half inch or so??
    Reply
    • Rachael says

      December 27, 2018 at 1:28 am

      Yes, if you cut too thick, you can cook a little longer.
      Reply

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