Food and Recipes Desserts Cookies Cranberry-Orange Butter Cookies 5.0 (2) 2 Reviews How do you make a traditional butter cookie even better? Add the festive notes of cranberry and orange, that's how. This cookie dough needs to chill at least 2 hours, so you can make this the night before and bake cookies the next day. Before you get started, make sure your butter is adequately softened; this is key to creating a smooth and creamy dough. Try using dried cherries for the cranberries or lemon zest instead of orange, and add a touch of crushed, dried rosemary to the batter. To get a really sharp rectangular shape to your dough, after wrapping it in plastic wrap, put the log in an empty aluminum foil box, gently re-form the log around the box and refrigerate. This cookie recipe is a tasty selection when hosting or attending a cookie swap. Or add them to a lineup of other holiday cookies, package in a decorative tin and give as a delicious food gift. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley developed and tested recipes for Southern Living Magazine in the Souths most trusted Test Kitchen for 19 years. She worked closely with the editors planning and packaging stories, collaborating with art and photo teams on food styling and recipe reproduction to ensure reader satisfaction, content quality control, and recipe authenticity history and cooking. Her area of expertise was baking and and pastry development and she acted as the point person for these areas in the Test Kitchen. With 30+ years of experience in the culinary field, Pam created and tested 1000s of recipes for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on November 6, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall Active Time: 25 mins Chill Time: 2 hrs Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins Yield: 5 dozen Ingredients 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened 1 1/4 cups unsifted powdered sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 tsp. baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries 1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest (from 3 oranges) 1 cup demerara sugar or sparkling sugar, as needed for decorating Directions Beat butter with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in cranberries and orange zest until just combined, about 30 seconds. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a rectangular log about 9 inches long x 2 inches wide x 2 inches tall. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place demerara sugar in a shallow dish. Unwrap dough logs. Gently press demerara sugar into long sides of both logs. Cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange slices 1 inch apart on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Working in 2 batches, bake cookies in preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks, and cool completely, about 20 minutes. Store in airtight containers up to 1 week. Rate it Print