It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…which is why I bought a bag of dried cranberries with no thought about why! I was in the baking aisle, making mental notes about festive baking, and when I got to the till these were in my trolley!
I prefer dried cranberries to fresh for baking – I find fresh a bit tart- but they do need some life putting back in them. As I am feeding my Christmas cakes with orange liqueur there was a bottle open, but you could just as easily use orange juice.
The orange hit is really vital in these – I think orange and cranberry is a perfect festive combo. So make sure you zest at least two large oranges, more if you have them. Oh and if you have any, chuck in ¼ tsp of orange extract as well.
Boozy Cranberry Cookies
Makes up to 24 depending on size
- 100g dried cranberries
- Approx 3 tbsp orange liqueur
- 150g unsalted butter, room temp
- 75g soft dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- Zest of 2 oranges
- 225g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
What you do
- The day before you plan to bake, put the cranberries in the booze and let them steep
Baking day
- Preheat oven to 200c and line a baking tray or two with baking parchment
- In a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until well combined
- Add the cranberries, plus any boozy juice left behind, and the orange zest
- Mix in the flour and baking powder (use a slow setting if using a stand mixer)
- Using either your hands or spoons, create small balls of dough. Hands up- I measured mine so they were a similar size. Balls of 24-28g gave me 22 cookies
- Put the dough balls on the baking tray – leave plenty of room. I got 8 on at once
- Bake for approx 10 mins or until they have turned a light golden colour
- Delicious warm and cold!
I’m entering this into Bake of the Week over on CasaCostello– pop over and see some even better festive bakes!
Edit: images updated January 2018
