Easy Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are a delicious Christmas cookie recipe that is easy to make. The buttery shortbread pairs perfectly with the tart dried cranberries making them a festive cookie for holiday dessert platters.
One of my favorite Christmas cookies is shortbread. I love the buttery melt-in-your-mouth texture and they can be flavored in so many ways. For the holidays, you can’t beat a red and white cookie and these cranberry shortbread cookies are just perfect.
Shortbread cookies are so easy to make and they keep well at room temperature so they are great for gifting. For this recipe, you only need five ingredients!
They are so simple and the flavors are great. Sweet, buttery, and each bite has tart cranberry. If you want an easy cookie recipe to make this year, you need to give them a try.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour – be sure your flour is at least 11-12% protein, this will help keep the cookies from spreading.
- Softened butter – I use salted butter, but if you use unsalted add a bit more salt.
- Caster sugar – this is a very fine sugar.
- Pinch of salt
- Dried cranberries
Instructions
Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer (or stand mixer) in a large bowl for about two to three minutes or until the mixture is creamy.
Sift the flour and salt into the butter mixture and stir. When it’s almost combined, add the cranberries and continue mixing on medium speed until the dough is firm.
Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 to 60 minutes. You can also chill it overnight.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator. If it’s very firm, gently knead it to soften it up. Place the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and roll it out until it’s 1/4″ thick.
Cut the dough out into rounds or squares using a cookie cutter and place them on baking sheets or cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle sugar over the tops, if desired.
Place the pans in the refrigerator for 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 320°F.
Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool them for two to three minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
What extras can you add to the cookies?
You could add some orange zest a little orange flavouring, some white chocolate chips or even some coarsely chopped nuts.
Can you use fresh cranberries or frozen ones?
Fresh and frozen cranberries are not good for this recipe. They have too much moisture which will change the texture of the shortbread cookies. For best results, use dried cranberries.
Whether you make these cranberry shortbread cookies for you or to share, I hope you love them! You can’t beat the color combination – it’s perfect for the holidays. Enjoy!
More Cookies Recipes
Easy Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1¾-2 cups all purpose flour (at least 11-12% protein / sifted)
- ⅔ cup + 1 tablespoon butter (softened)* (165 grams total, if doubling or tripling the recipe then double or triple this amount)
- ⅓ cup + 1½ tablespoons sugar (caster / fine) (85 grams total, if doubling or tripling the recipe then double or triple this amount)
- 1 pinch salt*
- ¼-½ cup dried cranberries
*If using unsalted butter then use ¼ teaspoon salt. Be sure to use a good quality butter, apparently this year 2022, store brand butter quality is not what it used to be. Less fat could mean a dry not so tasty cookie.
Instructions
- Beat the butter and sugar until creamy, approximately 2-3 minutes, add the sifted flour (start with 1¾ cups add the remaining 4 tablespoons if needed one at a time) and the salt, combine, when almost combined add the cranberries and continue to beat with the flat beaters (#2 speed) until a firm dough is obtained, be aware that it does take time to bring it together. If you knead by hand it will take approximately 4 minutes of kneading.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes or even overnight).
- Remove the dough from the fridge, and if very firm, gently knead, place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to ¼ inch thickness, cut out with round or square cookie cutters, place on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle with sugar before baking if desired. Refrigerate the cookies while the oven is pre-heating, for about 15 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 320F (160C). Line 1 or 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Bake the cookies for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let sit 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
These are the best! I added orange zest to the recipe and it was amazing! I get rave reviews for these cookies
Hi Katherine, thanks so much, so glad everyone enjoyed them. Good idea adding the orange zest. Take care!
I followed the instructions exactly, and ultimately, after some problem-solving, they came out amazingly perfect in texture and taste! I will share my problems and solutions to hopefully help others, because you really need to make these cookies!!!
First, I found that my Gold Medal brand flour only has 10.7% protein. Luckily I had some bread flour at 12.7%, so I used half of each to average 11.7%.
I couldn’t find caster sugar, but I did find Domino’s super fine sugar, which I found online is basically the same thing.
My most serious problem came after refrigerating the dough overnight only way to find it as hard as a rock. It was a double recipe so I was freaking out a little.
What I did was cut the hard dough (carefully) into several pieces and let it sit out while I preheated the oven. It was still quite hard so I started kneading smaller pieces of it until it was all the consistency that could be rolled. I was worried that it might be overworked at that point or too soft. After rolling and cutting the cookies I did put them back in the refrigerator for 15 minutes as instructed which is important.
Since it was a double batch, I used half a cup of dried cranberries and half a cup of chopped pecans. The cookies are so good, I will make them every year at Christmas time from now on. Just WOW! If you are considering them, just do it. There is no need to mess with this recipe, it is perfect.
Hi Cathleen, thanks so much so glad you enjoyed them and thank you for sharing! Merry Christmas!
Also, I have an electric oven and it took 15 to 16 minutes for the cookies to be done. I baked them to the point where the bottom of the cookies just very barely changed color. Hopefully that was the right judgment call. At any rate they were great.
And Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Hi Cathy, thanks so much, and yes that is the perfect way to see if they are done. Take care and Merry Christmas to you also!
This didn’t work for me. Something wrong about the flour – it was too dry with only 1 1/4 cups.
Couldn’t get the dough to the point of cutting out the cookies. It kept crumbling!
Hi Edith, if dough doesn’t come together then add more butter. This is for any type of dough, add more moisture. Different flours absorb differently. Hope that helps.
Thxs I did do that just to finish but not sure I will be making these again. Canadian white flour only lists mg not % for the protein.
Thank you so much for this simple cookie recipe
I used 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1 3/4 cup flour, followed your instructions
Came out perfect!
No issues at all!
Happy holidays
Hi Lou, thanks so much, and thank for sharing. Take care!
I had some trouble making these because the house was a bit hot and the dough kept breaking when I tried to lift them off the parchment paper, but I persisted and got a few, then put the remaining dough back in the fridge for a while. They did taste very nice when they were cooked. It also took a bit longer than 10 minutes to cook, but that might have been because they were a bit thicker than 1/4 inch.
Hi Sue, yes a warmer house will cause the dough to be soft and fall apart. Good idea putting it in the fridge. Glad you enjoyed them. Take care!
Disappointed with the result on my first attempt. The cookies spread on the cookie tray and ended up like one huge cookie. Any thoughts?
Jenny, they probably spread because your flour was too low in protein, you need to use one with at least 11% protein, it is written on the bag. Most all purpose flour is about 11% or higher. Also refrigerate the unbaked cookies while the oven is pre-heating. Hope that helps. Take care!
Can you use fresh cherries instead of cranberries
Hi Tony, I think you could, I would chop into pieces though. Let me know how it goes. Take care!
Perfect cookies! Would pecan nuts ruin them?
Hi Susana, thanks, I don’t think so, if you try let me know how they are. Take care!
Looks delish! I am tempted to add pistachios too – do pistachios complement cranberry, or should that be a separate cookie?
Hi Susanna, thanks and I think cranberries and pistachios would be good together. Let me know if you try it. Take care and have a great weekend!
These cookies are missing something? I tried the recipe two times and they both came out to dry! You need to add something? I ended up adding an egg, more butter and I added oatmeal fo mine then I could handle it without it crumbling in my hands. Please check your ingredients.
Thank you
Ruth Miles
montemiles@windstream.net
Hi Ruth, these are shortbread cookies, there is no egg in shortbread, I added some info in the recipe on butter. Butter this year is not the same quality as it was before, you need to use a good quality butter. If it’s too dry you need to add more butter, not an egg. 🙂
Although the cookies were good, I only got 14 cookies. I used a 2 1/2 inch round cutter , rolled the dough to 14 inch between 2 sheets of parchment paper as suggested. I also increased the baking time to 13 minutes. A little disappointed to only get a few cookies for the amount of work going into it.
I meant to say I rolled the cookies to 1/4 inch thickness,
Hi Becky the amount of cookies depends on the size of your cutters and the thickness. And shortbread cookies are probably one of the least amount of work cookies there is. 🙂