Orange Cranberry Cookies (no spread)

     Growing up, my Christmas was always filled with oranges, and I try to keep it that way in my family today. Dried orange garlands, an orange at the bottom of my stocking, but the Christmas morning orange bow knots have been passed up for caramel tolls. So, I felt the need to find a replacement for this orange flavored treat that was easier to incorporate into the whole season. 

    As I was scrolling recipes on Pinterest for inspiration, I noticed that many of the orange recipes included cranberry fir a more festive touch. I decided I wanted to try my hand at orange cranberry sugar cookies! This is essentially a sugar cookie with some extra flavors added. I found a good no spread sugar cookie in my arsenal of recipes and got started!

    I started off the way any good cookie recipe starts and I creamed together softened butter and sugar. I kept my stand mixer going as I added my orange juice, orange zest, and egg. You only need about 1 tbsp of orange juice and as much zest as you want. Personally I like a lot so I use a whole orange's worth but you can use less if you want. You can also use vanilla extract if you want however I didn't feel that this recipe needed it so it was not included. 

    I stopped my stand mixer to dump in my flour and salt. I recently have had this problem where I forget how fluffy my dry ingredients are so, in true Jo character, I got my mixer going way too fast and poofed four everywhere. So, just a tip, when you add your dry ingredients, make sure you start your mixer off slow and increase speed as the ingredients incorporate. 

    This is not a recipe that you need to worry about over mixing. One of the times I was making these was while my baby was sick (don't worry, I didn't share them or her germs). While I was mixing the cookie dough I forgot to turn it off while I had to go take care of her and the cookies still turned out fine. However, I do not recommend doing this because it still does raise the chance of something going wrong. 

    Once I got all of my ingredients mixed in, I dumped in my cranberries. I mixed these in with a rubber spatula as I would chocolate chips. When those were incorperated I dumped my dough onto my table and divided it into two. If the dough is too soft or sticky to handle you can chill it for 30 minutes before you roll it out, but it worked just fine for me to not chill. 

    As soon as my dough was rolled flat I used a mason jar lid ring to cut out perfect circles. The cranberries did pose a slight problem to my shape but for the most part my cookies looked great! I then baked my cookies for about 9 minutes but you can adjust that based on the size, thickness, and shape of your cookies.

    When my cookies were done baking I put them on a cooking rack. If you want you can frost these but I like to eat them plain or dipped in dark chocolate. These orange cranberry cookies are so sweet and delicious! I didn't notice any kind of shape change in the oven so they make the perfect cookie to use with those cookie cutters you have sitting in your drawer. Something I love especially about this recipe is how, even though they don't spread, they are not dry at all! They have somewhere between a firm and chewy texture that is so satisfying to bite into!

Leave a comment with how this recipe works for you! What flavor cookie should I make next?