These slice-and-bake cranberry almond shortbread cookies are a soft and buttery almond shortbread loaded with sweetened cranberries and dipped in white chocolate. They make the best Christmas cookies!
Who else is planning their Christmas cookies already? Try these coconut date balls and my perfect snickerdoodles, next!
I don’t know about you, but I LOVE gifting cookie platters during the holidays. It gives me an excuse to bake (as if I needed another one). Plus, nothing spreads holiday cheer better than a plate of sugar cookies and other treats. These cranberry shortbread cookies are super festive and easy to make. You’ll need pantry staples, chewy dried cranberries, and white chocolate. They won me over immediately. So much so that I made a cranberry orange version, too!
Why I Know You’ll Love These Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
- Soft and chewy. Shortbread is traditionally a crunchy butter cookie with a coarse crumb. But these cranberry cookies turned out soft and buttery in the middle. It was such a pleasant surprise that I didn’t bother adjusting the recipe.
- Only 6 ingredients. Shortbread is a classic, and you need so few ingredients that are almost always in the pantry.
- Festive flavors. Almond extract and cranberries amp up the holiday flavors in these shortbread cookies. They’re perfect for Christmas baking, cookie exchanges, and gifting.
Ingredient Notes
You’ll need just 6 easy ingredients for the cookies and some chocolate to dip them in. The full recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
- Butter and Sugar – Unsalted butter and white sugar form the base of the shortbread dough. You could also use light brown sugar.
- All-purpose flour – To avoid an overly dry, crumbly cookie, make sure to measure the flour correctly. Don’t scoop the flour directly from the bag. Instead, spoon the flour into the measuring cup before you level it off. Otherwise, a kitchen scale takes a lot of the guesswork out of accurate measuring.
- Almond Extract – You could use pure vanilla extract instead, or another flavor, like lemon or orange extract.
- Cranberries – Sweetened dried cranberries are my favorite. You can use fresh cranberries, but the flavor will be more tart.
- White Chocolate – For dipping and decorating. Choose a good-quality melting chocolate for the best results. I recommend Ghirardelli melting wafers, almond Bark, a white chocolate bar such as Lindt or Ghirardelli, or white baking chips.
How to Make Shortbread Cookies
You’ll notice there are no eggs in this recipe, so it’s especially important to cream the butter and sugar together, which helps all the ingredients stick together once the flour has been added.
- Combine butter and sugar. In a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, almond extract, and salt. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients. Next, slowly add the flour ½ cup at a time until all the flour has been added. Mix at a low speed until the dough is crumbly
- Add the cranberries. Once added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat only until the dough starts to come off the sides of the bowl and stick together in a ball.
- Press and shape the dough. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper. Divide the dough into two equal halves, press and shape into a log about 1 ½ inches thick and about 6-7 inches long.
- Chill. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Slice and bake. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Slice the cookies at least ¼”- 3/8″ thick. Place on the prepared baking sheet approximately 1 inch apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes or just until the edges start to brown.
Dipping the Cookies in White Chocolate
When it comes time to dip these cookies in white chocolate, I suggest using high-quality chocolate that is made for candy making so that it will set nicely. If you want to use a white chocolate bar or white chocolate chips, consider adding a teaspoon or two of coconut oil or Crisco to thin it out, but it’s not necessary. You can also use a melting wafer like Ghirardelli or an almond bark.
- Melt the chocolate: You’ll want to wait until the cookies have cooled completely. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate at 50% power in 30-second intervals; stir after each interval and continue until the chocolate is melted. Reduce microwave time as needed so the chocolate does not burn.
- Dip the cookies in the chocolate, tap off excess chocolate on the sides of the bowl, and then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and allow the chocolate to set completely.
Julianne’s Tip
These cookies can be crumbly on the edges, which can fall off into the chocolate. I suggest melting half at a time in case the melted chocolate gets messy with crumbs.
Tips for Perfect Homemade Slice & Bake Cookies
- Cut up the cranberries. Since these cookies are sliced, it’s important to slice the cranberries nice and small. I used a knife to chop them up before mixing them into the dough.
- Tightly roll the dough. Be sure to really press the loose crumbs together. If you have air pockets in the middle, you’ll see them when you slice the dough
- Cut them thick. They tend to spread less when the cookies are thicker, so I recommend slicing them at least 1/4 inch thick.
- Chill the dough. This is an essential step. The dough is much easier to cut through, and hold a shape when the dough is good and firm
- To get nice round cookies. When rolling the dough, try and roll the log as round as possible. Cookies will spread when baking, so right when they come out of the oven, use a round cookie cutter (or a couple of spoons) and press the edges of the cookies back towards the middle. You can also use the cookie cutter to trim off the browned edges. You have to do this while they are still hot from the oven.
Make-Ahead and Freezing
- Make the dough ahead of time. The dough can be prepared in advance and stored for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, but it is definitely freezer-friendly. They should last in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Freezing cookie dough. Once the dough has been rolled into the logs, tightly wrap them twice with plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking.
- Finished cookies can also be frozen. You may consider baking the cookies, then freezing them in an airtight container. If possible, dip them in chocolate once they have thawed.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
Cranberry Shortbread Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 24-32
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These cranberry shortbread cookies are a soft and buttery almond shortbread loaded with sweetened cranberries and dipped in white chocolate.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, almond extract and salt. Beat until light and fluffy and well combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Next, slowly add the flour ½ cup at a time until all the flour has been added. Mix at a low speed until the dough is crumbly, add the cranberries then increase the speed to medium-high and beat only until the dough starts to come off the sides of the bowl and stick together in a ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a piece pf parchment paper. Divide the dough into two equal halves, press and shape into a log about 1 ½ inches thick and about 6-7 inches long. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and slice the cookies at least ¼” -3/8″ thick. Place on the prepared baking sheet approximately 1-inch apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes or just until the edges start to brown. Cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To dip in chocolate, wait until the cookies have cooled completely. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt half the chocolate wafers at 50% power in 30 second intervals; stir after each interval and continue until chocolate is melted. Reduce microwave time as needed so the chocolate does not burn.
- Dip the cookies in the chocolate, tap off excess chocolate on the sides of the bowl and then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and allow the chocolate to set completely.
Notes
- Bake the dough cold: Be sure to bake the dough cold.
- The thicker these are cut, the less they spread. Using a silicone baking mat helps prevent the bottoms from cooking too quickly and results if a softer cookie.
- If you do find these spread after baking, you can fix it. Right, when they come out of the oven use 2 spoons, knives or spatulas to press the edges of the cookie back towards the center. You can also use a round cookie cutter to trim off some of the crispier edges You have to do this right away.
- Dough can be prepared in advance and stored up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Otherwise, I recommend freezing. Double wrap in plastic wrap.
- White chocolate: You can use any of the following: Ghirardelli melting wafers, almond Bark, a white chocolate bar such as Lindt or Ghirardelli or white baking chips.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 266
- Sugar: 23.7 g
- Sodium: 45 mg
- Fat: 14.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.3 g
- Fiber: 0.7 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
- Cholesterol: 24.8 mg
Definitely my favorite cookie this season! The only thing I had to change was the almond extract since a family member has a nut allergy. I used vanilla instead. Super easy cookie to make. I make all my dough and freeze it around Christmas time so I had no problem with the dough being crumbly like another review stated. And mine came out chewy in the center. Very pretty cookie to add to your cookie trays which I did!
Hi Cindy- I love that, thank you for sharing!
tried this recipe its delicious. In fact all the recipes I got from this site are excellent
Thank you so much Janet!
I had lost my recipe and was delighted to find it on your site! Thank you!
You’re so welcome Susan!
These turned out great! I used the weight measurements, but used a bit less sugar than called for. I had to double check the weight of the flour because the correct grams ended up seeming like more than two cups. I used vanilla instead of almond extract. The day I made the dough I was in a time crunch, so the first ones I baked had only chilled for a little over an hour, so I was worried. But they were fine, no spreading out. The next ones I baked two days later. Again, perfect! They were a hit at the cookie exchange & Friendsmas. I’ll definitely be making them again!
Hi Carol, thank you for sharing! This recipe was developed using 140g per 1 cup of flour, so the weighted measurements you see on my individual recipes are actually what I use. I weigh all my flour and sugar for each recipe. I am glad these were so well received!
I weighed all the ingredients and left the dough in fridge 24h, cut the cookies 3/8” thick but they still spread too much and got too thin. For the second batch I cut them a bit thicker, but the texture was not right, too crumbly. I also found them a bit too sweet. They look lovely tho.
Did you follow the weighted measurements in the recipe? This is based on 140g for one cup. If not, that could be part of the issue with spreading. They shouldn’t be crumbly if the dough was adequately pressed and shaped though.
Okay cookie but certainly not chewy as mentioned in the recipe & spreading was an issue even with good quality butter. Will try the recipe again and cut them thicker. Looked nothing like the photo for sure!
Hi Ginger, how thick did you cut them? There’s lots of notes in the recipe, but they should be cut rather thick.
These cookies are fantastic! Was my first time to make shortbread cookies and I was so pleased with the results!
Amazing! Thank you Ginger!
For my taste these cookies were a tad too sweet and difficult to cut because of the cranberries. It is definitely easier if you cut to 3/8 “ and they cook better as well. If I were to make them again I will definitely do the measurements by weight (should have done it the first time), cut the sugar by some and also cut the almond extract in half as I found the almond flavor far too strong. They are an easy cookie to put together and the overall flavor is terrific.
Thanks Lila. You can try chopping the cranberries into smaller piece if you did not do that. I always recommend weighing ingredients, but not that changing the sugar will produce different results.
Delicious! These are amazing. My husband asked me to make some without chocolate because that is how he like them, Either way, these are great. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Thank you Rhoda! They are a great snacking cookie!
Can I use fresh cranberries for this recipe?
Hi Phyllis, I have not personally done that but I believe there are some comments in the thread that discuss that, you may want to scroll through there and take a look
Could the shortbread be made gluten free
Hi Margaret, I have not specifically tested this. I think somewhere in the comments someone probably mentioned this, but would need to scroll through them and find it
Would it be possible to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters for fun shapes?
OR…..after the roll had chilled and sliced into round cookies, take a cookie cutter to that????
Hi jennifer, you can try once it has been thoroughly chilled, but the dough itself can be crumbly. You may see some spreading, cut them very thick though