Chocolate Chip & Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

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Studded with bits of chocolate and dried cranberries and spiced with warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice – these delicious Chocolate Chip & Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are unbelievably easy to make. Great for holiday baking, but with those flavor-packed dried cranberries from Ocean Spray® Craisins® Dried Cranberries, you could make these any time of the year! 

These Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are crisp, buttery, crumbly and addictively delicious!

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Autumn isn’t just a distant pipe dream anymore. It really truly is here. Well, almost. I’ve said it before – summer just wasn’t meant for me. I like cooler, colder weather better and the prospect of Fall is very exciting.

And personally, another reason for me to celebrate Fall – cranberries! There’s a reason why cranberries are so popular, especially during the holiday season here in the US. 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.

Last year, I shared these Orange and Cardamom Melting Moments Cookies (a cousin of shortbread cookies), which I make often simply because they are just so damn easy to make, versatile and delicious. 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. I’m serious – 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 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!

As you can see in the video, 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. Maybe next time I’ll have it with a pumpkin spice latte and really celebrate the spirit of Fall!

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Chocolate Chip & Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

NOTE ON WEIGHTS - I have included cup measurements in the recipe, but I cannot guarantee the results, since when it comes to baking cup measurements simply aren't as accurate. Grams and ounces provide very consistent baking results every time. Each person weighs cup measurements differently resulting in different amounts of flour or sugar in a cup. To keep this as accurate as possible, I measure EACH INGREDIENT by spooning the ingredients into the cup to over fill and then level it off with a spatula or knife. Using a small kitchen scale for baking is highly recommended as it makes things more easy, consistent and a lot less messy.

Serves 28 cookies

Print Rate

Ingredients:

• 5.3 oz / 150g / 1 cup + 2 tbsp AP flour
• 1.7 oz / 50g / 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 5.3 oz / 150g / 1 stick + 3 tbsp good-quality unsalted butter
• 2.6 oz / 75g / 1/2 cup icing sugar confectioner's sugar
• 3.5 oz / 100g / 1/2 cup chopped Craisins® Dried Cranberries
• 3.5 oz/ 100g / approx. 1 bar of chopped chocolate or chocolate chips or use dark chocolate for extra health benefits, but you can use any chocolate you like
• ½ tsp pumpkin spice or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice
• Zest of 1 lemon a generous 1/2 tsp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Generous pinch of salt

Instructions:

• Place the butter, salt and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and beat until the mix is creamy and fluffy.
• Add the spices, lemon zest, Craisins® Dried Cranberries, chocolate, vanilla and mix well.
• 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.
• Refrigerate the dough for about 15 - 30 minutes.
• Preheat 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 tray with about 2 inches of space between each. Press down gently on each with a fork.
• 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.

Did you make this?Tag me on Instagram!I love seeing what you’ve made! Tag me on Instagram at @TheFlavorBender or leave me a comment & rating below.

Ocean Spray® Craisins® Dried Cranberries may not be available at all Sam’s Club locations, but they are still available at a number of retailers! I picked up a bag at Walmart. You can find them in the aisle with all the other Ocean Spray® products, raisins and nuts! An even bigger bonus – there is a  price rollback for the 24 oz pouches to $4.98 at Walmart too – so go ahead and stock up! 😉

Are you inspired by Craisins® Dried Cranberries? What will you make #BetterWithCraisins? You can check out great Craisins® Dried Cranberries recipes here for more inspiration too!

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