A combination of orange and cranberry with my sugar cookie recipe, turns this classic into a surprising treat! The hints of orange and delicate bits of cranberry add another tasty layer and remind me of Christmas somehow.

I’ll jump right in and share my recipe and notes. Wishing you a sweet and peaceful holiday season!

xo,

Marian

Notes

Keep in mind that you can always lessen and intensify the orange and/or cranberry flavor by adding more or less of each. I would err on the side of adding more orange extract instead of the squeezed orange juice, as more liquid will change the texture of the dough. If you prefer to add more orange juice though, you may need to increase the amount of flour.

I used a spice grinder to make the pieces of cranberry quite small. That ensures a smoother sugar cookie surface to decorate on, however, you can chop them finely as well!

Orange Cranberry Sugar Cookie Recipe

Print Recipe

Orange Cranberry Sugar Cookie Recipe

Servings: 30 medium cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups salted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp orange zest from the zest of one orange
• 2 tbsps orange juice from one orange
• 2 tsps orange extract
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped I used a spice grinder, but you can chop them with a knife
• 6 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

• Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated – for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
• Add eggs, orange juice, orange extract and orange zest slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again. Add dried cranberry bits and mix
• Add all of the flour mixture to the bowl. Place a large tea towel or two small tea towels between the edge of the bowl and the electric mixer so that the flour won't escape. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the tea towel and observe the dough mixing; when it clumps around the paddle attachment and peels away from the walls of the bowl it's ready. It's also important at this stage not to over mix the dough (the glutens in the flour develop and the dough can become tough). Ensure you scrape down the bottom of the bowl with the spatula if needed.
• Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
• Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat. Make sure you have matching amounts of tops and bottoms of your cookies.
• Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F or 176°C.
• Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
• Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!

Notes

Yield: Approx. 30 medium sized cookies

A few notes about the recipe:

*Butter – The butter needs to be soft, or room temperature. I leave mine out the night before I do my baking. If you forget, you can grate the butter on the largest hole of your box grater, so that the sugar and butter will mix together better.

*Baking powder – I don’t use baking powder in my recipe because the dough will spread and rise more during baking, thereby making the shape of the cookie less crisp. The only time I use it now, is if I’m just making round shortbread cookies and I don’t mind the cookies spreading.

*Keep in mind that you can always lessen and intensify the orange and/or cranberry flavor by adding more or less of each. I would err on the side of adding more orange extract instead of the squeezed orange juice, as more liquid will change the texture of the dough. If you prefer to add more orange juice though, you may need to increase the amount of flour.

*I used a spice grinder to make the pieces of cranberry quite small. That ensures a smoother sugar cookie surface to decorate on, however, you can chop them finely as well!

*Chill your dough if it gets too soft work with. It’s a softer, sometimes sticky dough (depending on your environment as well), but in my humble opinion, makes up for it in taste.

*Read these tips here on stopping dough from spreading.