Cranberry Orange Cookies Recipe

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until well blended. Mix in 1 teaspoon orange zest and 2 tablespoons orange juice. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the orange mixture. Mix in cranberries and if using, walnuts, until evenly distributed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Cookies should be spaced at least 2 inches apart.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, 3 tablespoons orange juice and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread over the tops of cooled cookies. Let stand until set.

Reviews (629)

227

Brooke Salt

Dec. 20, 2006

"WOW! What a wonderful cookie. I just made these last night for a cookie tray and they were the best of all five varities I tried. I did make a few changes to the recipe: *I added 1 1/2 tsp of zest ..." See morelike some of the other reviews suggested. *I used fresh cranberries and sliced them in half (not chopped). I thought they were the perfect size when the cookies baked. *Some of the other reviews suggested adding vanilla extract, but I think that almond extract and cranberries are made for eachother, so... I added about 1/4-1/2 tsp. almond extract. *Instead of walnuts, I added almond gems to accompany the extract. The gems are small enough so they don't stand out too much -- perfect for nut lovers and perfect for the rest of us! *I decided to try the cookies w/o the frosting first because of some reviews stating that the cookies were too sweet. I thought the cookies were perfect w/o the frosting, so why hassel?!! *Also, if I left them in the oven one second longer than 12 minutes, they were overcooked."

128

LovesCheese

Jan. 10, 2007

"These cookies are a huge favorite of ours! I've made them a few times and always have to make two changes - add 1/2 to 1 cup extra flour and chill the dough a little, and bake them at 350 instead of 3..." See more75. As no one else has mentioned doing that, I blame it on high altitude; however, the flour thing is a little strange to me - I've never seen a cookie recipe with a cup of butter need less than 3 or 4 cups of flour. The first batch of these cookies I made (with the stated amount of flour) spread all over the pan in one big flat gooey cookie, so I made the above changes and have absolutely loved every batch since."

106

MJones

Oct. 17, 2005

"Oh my goodness these are THE BEST! I usually make cranberry orange bread during the holidays, but from now on I'm making these cookies instead. I added a splash of vanilla extract, pulsed the fresh ..." See morecranberries in my food processor and used 2 T. orange juice concentrate instead of orange juice and they spread out beautifully and have the perfect texture and balance of sweet and tart. I didn't even make the icing and my 3 year old loves them! Thank you Meg!"

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