If you’re wanting something fun and different for the holidays this year, then look no further!  These sweet little gems are just bursting with bright wintry flavor. They’re based off my favorite cut-out cookie recipe, and I promise you, it’s the best you’ll ever use.  The dough is an absolute dream to work with, and the best thing is, they DO NOT SPREAD at all when they’re baked.  So you can keep your pretty shapes!  You won’t lose any of that gorgeous detail. I used a 2 1/2-inch diameter fluted cookie cutter, and rolled the dough out to about 1/8-inch thick.  So these are small and thin, and pretty as can be. My original recipe is meant to be iced, but this cranberry orange version doesn’t need a bit of it.  They’re naturally beautiful, with the dark red dried cranberries and bright orange zest, and there’s tons of flavor!  One bite will put you right in the holiday mood.

The dough is meant to be very stiff, and not at all sticky, so you can roll it out easily between two sheets of parchment paper without having to dust your work surface with flour.  This makes cookie baking so much easier!  Plus you can re-roll your dough scraps without the cookies getting tough.  I find it very easy to make in an electric stand mixer, but if you don’t have one, just use a regular hand mixer and knead the last bit of flour in by hand.  You’ll know it’s good to go when the dough can easily gather itself into a ball, and no longer feels sticky. One more pro tip:  be sure to chop your dried cranberries very finely.  If you don’t, it will make it a bit harder to cut your cookies out with the cookie cutter.  If you land the edge of your cutter on a cranberry, it’s very hard to slice all the way through, and it might mess up your edges. Bake up a batch of these cranberry orange shortbread cookies this holiday season!  Your friends and family will love the bright, seasonal flavors.

Cut-Out Cookies that Don’t Spread, by Baking a Moment Perfect Snickerdoodle Cookies, by Life’s Little Sweets Soft Baked Gingersnap Cookies, by Dessert Now, Dinner Later Red Currant Thumbprint Cookies, by Recipe Girl