These simple, delicious, and buttery shortbread cookies from Fanny Lam (of Oh Sweet Day!) are your go-to edible gift during the holiday season. Dried cranberries yield the perfect balance to the creamy texture of the cookie base. The lovely ruby-red color also adds a festive touch. Find more from Fanny in our Holiday Cookies Special issue, co-produced with feedfeed.
Dried Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
Makes about 30
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (1.5 grams) kosher salt
- ¼ cup (32 grams) finely chopped dried cranberries
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar at medium speed until creamy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl. Beat in vanilla.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined. Fold in cranberries. Turn out dough, and shape into a disk (batter may be sticky). Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Using a 1½-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut dough, and place on prepared pans. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Bake until lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool on pans for 3 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week
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Where can I find finely chopped dried cranberries? My local Kroger no longer carries them and I have searched online with no joy. I have tried chopping the whole ones….too sticky! Can you help?
Hi Dolly!
Thank you for reaching out! We chop the dried halved cranberries that you find most often in stores. I completely understand the stickiness factor! One thing you can try is to toss the cranberries in flour before chopping. Also, cleaning your knife with a warm rag periodically may also help. One final resort may be to freeze the cranberries before chopping. I have a feeling you may never completely get away from the stickiness, as it is kind of the nature of the condensed natural sugars!
Dolly, I have an oatmeal and dried cranberry recipe I make often, and I get the dried cranberries at WalMart. Trader Joe’s also Carrie’s them, some with orange favor added which are delicious. Hope this helps. Luann
Hello can you tell me can I use just 1 stick of butter ? or will this mess up the recipe?
Thank you Angela Boyer
Hi Angela!
Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, butter is the main binder in shortbread, so if you only wanted to use one stick of butter, you would need to reduce the other ingredients by half as well.
Can I use the above recipe for lemon flavoured shortbread? (Minus cranberries) if so, how much of lemon juice and zest could I use for a subtle flavour please?
Hi Jay,
Lemon shortbread sounds wonderful! We have not yet developed that recipe, but you could potentially start with the zest of one lemon and one teaspoon of juice, while removing the vanilla extract completely. Although we have not tried this, it should impart a good amount of flavor without changing the consistency too much. Hope this helps and happy baking!
Hello, is it 227 gms or 127 grams of butter? I used the mentioned measurements and method and the cookies turned out extremely light .. like literally melting in the mouth
Hi Jyoti,
The 227 gram measurement is correct. This recipe by Fanny Lam was meant to be a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth shortbread. We have a plethora of other shortbread recipes on our site, including ones with greater amounts of flour in the dough which will yield a less delicate shortbread. Our Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies might be a fun alternative.
Hope this helps, and happy baking!
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