Studded with bits of chocolate and dried cranberries, and spiced with warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice – these delicious Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are unbelievably easy to make. Great for holiday baking!
These Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are crisp, buttery, crumbly and addictively delicious!
Autumn isn’t just a distant pipe dream anymore. It really truly is here. Well, almost. Summer just isn’t meant for me. I like cooler, colder weather better and the prospect of Fall is very exciting. Especially, with the prospect of all the cozy winter recipes that I can whip up.
Cranberries are a holiday favorite
And personally, another reason for me to celebrate Fall – cranberries! There’s a reason why cranberries are so popular, and are such Thanksgiving favorites. I can’t think of a Thanksgiving spread being complete without cranberry sauce.
Apart from being sweet, tart and citrusy on their own, they do have numerous health benefits and they have this uncanny ability to brighten up and enhance any dish. They reach their plump, bright red, ripe form during September – November, not a moment too soon for all that holiday baking.
But the great thing about a product like Ocean Spray Craisins Dried Cranberries is that it lets you enjoy this versatile and flavorful fruit any time of the year!
Plus, there’s even more flavor concentrated into those ruby red, dried cranberries which makes even snacking on them fun! And that makes these Craisins Dried Cranberries a very flavorful addition in your baking as well.
Fun Fact – did you know Ocean Spray’s first product was jellied cranberry sauce, and then cranberry juice cocktail in the 1930s? They’ve come a long way since then with innovative products like Craisins Dried Cranberries.
Shortbread cookies
Last year, I shared these Orange and Cardamom Melting Moments Cookies, which I make often simply because they are just so damn easy to make, versatile and delicious. They are related to classic shortbread cookies which I absolutely love.
So much so that I’ve even shared a couple of other variations, like these chocolate shortbread cookies and buttery espresso shortbread cookies.
They have the right amount of sweetness (I don’t like my shortbread cookies too sweet), and they are so delightfully crumbly and buttery. They are like a blank canvas to me to add on more flavors, spices, bits of chocolate, nuts, raisins, whatever! They never disappoint.
So I decided to give my melting moments cookies a Fall makeover with some warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and bits of chocolate and Craisins Dried Cranberries.
The result – these Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies that you simply HAVE to make! 🙂 These are ridiculously easy to make that even someone who has never baked before could make these perfectly well!
These cranberry shortbread cookies are so easy to make
The cookie dough comes together easily in a matter of minutes and bakes in 15 minutes! There’s a resting time to let the dough chill, so you can preheat the oven while the dough is chilling and you’ll have these unbelievably delicious Chocolate Chip Cranberry shortbread cookies in no time.
They are buttery, crunchy, crumbly and crisp at the same time, with just the right amount of sweetness while studded with bits of chocolate and those flavorful Craisins Dried Cranberries, and then with a hint of all those amazing warming spices!
Those dried cranberries are like bits of chewy candy in these cranberry shortbread cookies. Really, these chocolate chip & cranberry shortbread cookies should be right up there on your list of what to bake next. These are so easy make, it’s almost unfair.
They are perfect to be dunked in hot milk or coffee too. We enjoyed ours with a cup of hot chocolate (made with my own homemade hot chocolate mix, of course!).
Maybe next time I’ll have it with a pumpkin spice latte (complete with pumpkin spice coffee creamer!), and really celebrate the spirit of Fall!
Recipe
Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
US based cup, teaspoon, tablespoon measurements. Weight measurements are recommended for accurate results whenever available.
Common Measurement ConversionsVideo
Ingredients:
- 150 g unsalted butter 11 tbsp (1 stick + 3 tbsp)
- 75 g icing sugar confectioner's sugar – about ⅔ cup (measured by spoon and level method)
- Generous pinch of salt
- 100 g dried cranberries chopped, ½ cup
- 100 g chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. You can use any type of chocolate you prefer (dark or milk chocolate)
- ½ tsp pumpkin spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
- Zest of 1 lemon a generous 1/2 tsp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 150 g AP flour about 1 ¼ cup (spoon and leveled)
- 50 g cornstarch about 5 tbsp
Instructions:
- Place the butter, salt and confectioner's sugar in a bowl, and beat until the mix is creamy and fluffy.150 g unsalted butter, Generous pinch of salt, 75 g icing sugar
- Add the spices, lemon zest, dried cranberries, chocolate, and vanilla, and mix well.100 g dried cranberries, 100 g chopped chocolate, ½ tsp pumpkin spice, Zest of 1 lemon, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Sift the AP flour and cornstarch together into a separate bowl. Add the sifted dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mix in two batches, mixing gently with a wooden spoon or spatula after each addition. Following the second addition, mix until a soft dough is formed.150 g AP flour, 50 g cornstarch
- Refrigerate the dough for about 15 – 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C while the dough is chilling, and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Roll the chilled dough into 1 inch balls and place them on the lined tray with about 2 inches of space between each. Press down gently on each with a fork. You should end up with about 28 cookies.
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the cookies turn a light golden color (the bottom will be a golden color).
- Remove from the oven and let them cool down for a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool down completely. Then store them in an airtight container.
Nutrition Information:
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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