Sparkling Sugarplum Cranberry Cookies a chewy cranberry orange cookie made from fresh cranberries and oranges. With an all natural plum color and beautiful sparkle these cranberry cookies look just like sugarplums!
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Sugar plum cookies
These Cranberry Cookies were inspired by sparkling sugar plums. Sugar plums are a traditional candy made from a mixture of dried fruits and nuts rolled in sugar. And are most known as the treat that dances in children’s heads at Christmas. As well as on the stage as the dance of the Sugar Plum fairy in the Nutcracker ballet.
Sugar plum cookies like these are such a fun Christmas cookie to serve to little ones with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. Natural, brightly colored, sparkling cookies that look like sugarplums and taste absolutely delicious. These sugar plum cookies are chewy and sweet with the best cranberry orange flavor.
Mix in white chocolate chips to make white chocolate cranberry cookies. Or you can even make cranberry almond cookies with diced dried plums to make them even more like a traditional sugarplum!
Ingredients
- Frozen cranberries – to defrost and puree in order to get a thick cranberry sauce. Or you can substitute leftover homemade or canned cranberry sauce to make cranberry sauce cookies. Simply use cranberry sauce, either whole cranberry sauce or jellied cranberry, in place of the pureed cranberry orange mixture.
- Orange– to make fresh orange zest and fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter – room temperature
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Craisins – dried cranberries make a great addition to this cranberry cookie recipe but you can make them with all other sorts of ingredients stirred in like chocolate, dried fruit, nuts and more.
- Optional – coarse sanding sugar like clear or colored decorating sugar sprinkles give these cranberry cookies the best sparkle.
Step by step instructions
- Measure frozen cranberries and allow to defrost at room temperature for several hours or overnight, refrigerated, until soft and juicy. The longer you can allow the berries to thaw and release their juices, the better. Alternately speed up the process by heating cranberries slightly either over a low stovetop or short intervals in the microwave.
- Zest orange then squeeze the orange to make fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Add thawed cranberries and all their juices to a food processor or high powered blender with 2 tablespoons orange juice. Then measure cranberry orange mixture. Adding the additional orange juice if necessary to fill to ⅔ cup total cranberry puree.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer whip butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add cranberry orange mixture to whipped butter and continue whipping forcefully on high speed until cranberry orange mixture is fully emulsified and incorporated.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Reduce speed to low and gently stir in dry ingredients being careful not to over mix. Then add dried cranberries.
- Cover cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill stiff and no longer slack, at least 30 min.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare several parchment lined baking sheets.
- Scoop cookie dough into small balls using a cookie scoop or spoon. And roll in granulated sugar, or sparkling sugar, until fully covered. Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake until lightly golden around the edges but not yet brown about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove cookies from oven and cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling.
- Enjoy!
White chocolate cranberry cookies
These delicious cranberry cookies are delicious as is with dried cranberry. But there are all sorts of ingredients to add to cranberry cookies! Make white chocolate cranberry cookies, similar to these blueberry, apple and strawberry cookies recipes.
Or make cranberry chocolate chip cookies, cranberry pecan, macadamia, or pistachio cookies. You can even roll in cranberry sugar.
There are also many ways to top cranberry cookies after they’re baked. You can make cranberry orange cookies like they are and add an orange glaze made from confectioners’ sugar and the remaining fresh orange juice.
Or make the stunning red and green Christmas cookies by dipping the naturally red cookies in green matcha white chocolate after they’re cooled. Or try them dipped in dark chocolate as a sweet Valentine’s day dessert recipe.
Yield
This recipe yields 24 small cranberry cookies. But you can easily double or triple the recipe.
Shelf life
The high moisture content of this cookie makes them extremely soft at first. But once cookies cool they firm up and become chewy. Stored uncovered at room temperature they will maintain their chewy texture for up to five days.
How to freeze
To make ahead of time chill dough then scoop into little balls and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cover and freeze until firm and transfer to a freezer bag to store until ready to bake. Bake from frozen adding a few minutes to the overall cook time.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups frozen cranberries
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ cup orange juice divided
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Craisins dried cranberries
Instructions
- Measure frozen cranberries and allow to defrost at room temperature for several hours or overnight, refrigerated, until soft and juicy. The longer you can allow the berries to thaw and release their juices, the better. Alternately speed up the process by heating cranberries slightly either over a low stovetop or short intervals in the microwave.
- Zest orange then squeeze the orange to make fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Add thawed cranberries and all their juices to a food processor or high powered blender with 2 tablespoons orange juice. Then measure cranberry orange mixture adding additional orange juice if necessary to fill to ⅔ cup total puree.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer whip room temperature butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add cranberry orange mixture to whipped butter and continue whipping forcefully on high speed until cranberry orange mixture is fully emulsified and incorporated.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Reduce speed to low and gently stir in being careful not to over mix. Then add dried cranberries.
- Cover cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill stiff and no longer slack, at least 30 min.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare several parchment lined baking sheets.
- Scoop cookie dough into small balls using a cookie scoop or spoon. And roll in granulated sugar, or sparkling sugar, until fully covered. Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake until lightly golden around the edges but not yet brown about 8-10 minutes.
- Remove cookies from oven and cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to finish cooling.
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