This festive fresh cranberry shortbread cookie recipe uses fresh cranberries instead of dried. I promise you won't miss the extra sugar.
Fresh Cranberry Shortbread Cookie
This is the best time of year to make fresh cranberry shortbread cookies. You may be able to find frozen cranberries any time of year, but why not buy a couple of extra bags now, and toss them into the freezer, while they are still in season.
I wanted to use the fresh cranberries that I had bought for some other recent projects like the wood, candle, cranberry, and fresh evergreen centerpiece, and the cranberry garland in the rustic tree decoration post.
There are many cranberry shortbread recipes out there, and they are all very similar. Heavy on butter, usually no baking soda or baking powder, making them dense and delicious.
However, most use dried cranberries. That's fine but they typically are loaded with sugar and not as tart. I really like the tart taste and less sugar is always a bonus as long as the taste is there.
Can you use frozen cranberries in this recipe?
Though fresh is best for this recipe in my opinion you may note that some of my readers have used frozen cranberries with no problem. One did say that the dough turned a little pink but they liked it.
The result was amazing, and I felt good about using the fresh cranberries because it cut down on the sugar content. I promise you will not miss the extra sugar.
Once you mix up the dough you need to refrigerate it in logs.
I like this because you can make the dough in a short time, and then whip up the cookies later or even the next day. Since all you have to do is slice them, and place them on a cookie sheet, they come together pretty quickly.
Cookie Baking Tip:
My mother taught me this and I almost always do it when baking cookies.
Halfway through the cooking time switch the trays. Move the top cookie sheet to the bottom rack and the one on the bottom to the top. It really helps the cookies bake evenly.
Also, if you bake often you may notice that your oven and my oven are not exactly the same. You may need to leave the cookies in for an extra minute or two. Or, you may need to take them out a little early.
Added Bonus: They freeze really well, so you can make them ahead. I think it's because they have a high butter content. It might make them a good candidate for shipping to family and friends too.
They're so pretty too. A great festive color for the holidays.
More Fresh Cranberry Recipes
pistachio cranberry cake cookies 
cranberry orange quick bread 
cranberry pear galette 
cranberry upsidedown Cake 
chocolate cranberry and nut bark 
cranberry oatmeal bars
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Fresh Cranberry Shortbread Cookie Recipe
This festive fresh cranberry shortbread cookie recipe uses fresh cranberries instead of dried. I promise you won't miss the extra sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh cranberries finely chopped
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Instructions
- Combine butter and sugar and mix together on medium speed until well blended.
- Add the flour about 1/2 at a time and mix until combined.
- Add chopped cranberries and lemon zest, mix well.
- Transfer about 1/2 of the dough onto plastic wrap and roll into a log.
- Continue with the remaining dough.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cut dough into 1/4 inch rounds and bake for 10 minutes.
- Switch pans by moving top pan to the bottom and the bottom pan to the top, then bake for an addition 10 minute or until the cookies start to brown.
- Makes about 2.5 dozen.
Notes
I prefer fresh but some readers have tried frozen and like them with this recipe. One notes that they may turn the dough a little pink but you may like that look.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 99Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 49mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 0gSugar: 4gProtein: 1g
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
janet
I'm confused about the total baking time- are you saying to bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the baking sheets, then bake for 10 more minutes? Just seems like a very long baking time! Thank you. Looking forward to making these delicious looking cookies!
Patti Estep
Janet, I do cook them for about 20 minutes in total. Ovens do vary so you can experiment with less time and see how they turn out.
Jennifer
Can you freeze the dough?
Patti Estep
Jennifer, though I haven't personally done it, I think this would be a good candidate for freezing because of the higher butter content. Let me know how it turns out.
Louanne
Patti,
Do you think they would taste good if I dipped them half in chocolate?
Patti Estep
Yes, I think that sounds delicious!
tara.
hello! these look awesome. question about measurements - is the 1 cup of whole cranberries then chopped, or 1 cup of the chopped cranberries?
thanks & happy thanksgiving 🦃🍁!
Patti Estep
Tara, I'm not sure if it really matters but I usually measure out a cup of cranberries and chop them, 1 cup of whole cranberries, chopped.
Steve M
Sheesh, I followed the recipe exactly and I have a solid sheet of the baked dough. I also noticed that when I cut them from the log they would just fall apart. The dough seemed juicy? What did I do wrong? I've re-read the instructions 10x now and I followed to a T.
Steve M
Ah, I figured out where I went wrong .... doubled the recipe but not the flour .... sheesh. Letting it come to room temp and will mix in 1 cup of flour. Should be fine tomorrow 😉
Patti Estep
Glad you figured it out. Sometimes doubling a recipe creates problems. You could make 2 separate batches to be on the safe side.
Jenn King
I have made these per the exact recipe, and they are amazing! I am going to try making them this afternoon with orange instead of lemon zest, and try adding some chopped pistachos, thinking the color combination will be festive for the holidays!
Patti Estep
Jenn, I'm so glad you like the cookie recipe. Orange zest would be wonderful as well as pistachios. Enjoy!
Kathleen
Have you tried using orange zest in lieu of lemon? Thinking traditional cran-orange.
Patti Estep
Kathleen, I haven't tried orange zest but I'm sure it would be delicious.
Beth Wright
I've made these cookies several times, always with frozen cranberries I had in my freezer. The first time I made the mistake of chopping them in the food processor bowl of my immersion blender. They tasted OK but the cookies were pink as someone in this thread descibed earlier, and you didn't get the piquant little bits of cranberry scattered throughout the sweeter dough. It all tasted the same.
I have made them with frozen cranberries twice since then and my recommendation is to take half of them out of the freezer and chop those, then put the chopped ones in the freezer while you chop the other half of the one cup of cranberries.
If you let frozen cranberries before chopping them, I suspect you're going to have a mucky mess because they exude water as they're thawing. I also advise that you chop the cranberries as finely as possible within reason (i.e., before they thaw or turn into a cranberry mush) because otherwise the dough may come apart while you're rolling it into logs or slicing it because the pieces of cranberry are too large and thus not well enough Incorporated in the dough.
And if you're a perfectionist about your cookies being round, you might want to roll the dough "logs" back and forth on the counter after refrigerating it while it's still cold right before you slice it into the individual cookies.
I've also learned after looking it up today, before I put together a batch of these cookies for a going away party for a friend using cranberries I'd had in my freezer since the winter holidays, that it's REALLY important to have the butter at room temperature. I think I may have had it both too soft and too hard when I've made these cookies in the past, which likely also contributed to them falling apart. (Darn, I had to eat the broken ones I couldn't patch back together well enough!)
I looked at various websites about how long you should soften butter for cookies like shortbread today and they pretty much agreed that the butter should be at around 65° F. I took the two sticks of butter out of the fridge and put the stem of my pocket thermometer between them, holding them together with a rubber band. It gave me a pretty decent approximation of the appropriate temperature. But the other thing that multiple sites suggested is that if you can push in the still wrapped (or not, I guess) butter with your thumb or forefinger, easily forming a little depression but not feeling the butter being slick or greasy, your butter is at the right temperature for creaming with the sugar and proceeding along with the recipe.
I am now a firm believer in this. According to what I read today, if your butter is not at the right temperature it won't be integrated well enough with the sugar and other ingredients you add subsequently and your dough will thus be crumbly and fall apart. Been there done that! I don't think I'm going to have that problem when I slice the dough log into cookies this time about an hour from now. So simple but it seems to make a big difference!
Patti Estep
Thanks for sharing your experience and information Beth.
Dana
I used frozen cranberries, divided the dough into two logs and refrigerated them for a few hours. I put it at 350 degrees and only baked them for about 13 minutes till golden brown on the bottom.
Delicious !
Patti Estep
Great to hear Dana. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Gayle
Could I use dried cranberries?
Patti Estep
Gayle, you can make them with dried cranberries. I haven't done it but many recipes use them. I might cut back on the amount if I did it.
Adrienne
What type of flour did you use?
Patti Estep
Adrienne, I used all-purpose white flour for this cookie recipe.
Jessica
Wondering your thoughts on using fried cranberries instead of fresh? Think it’ll still be good?
Patti Estep
Jessica, I've never heard of fried cranberries. Did you by chance mean frozen? If so, there are some comments here where other people have tried using frozen. I haven't but I think the key would be to make sure you remove as much moisture as you can after thawing them.
Erin
I’m thinking she meant dried, LOL.
Patti Estep
Ah... that makes more sense. Using dried cranberries is very common but I like fresh. I'd probably use a little less if I were to use dried cranberries.
Mike atwell
Made them two times. Second time I added white chocolate chips. Both turned out wonderful!
I am trying a half batch this time, but with fresh blueberries. Just an experiment. Hoping for the best!
Patti Estep
That's great Mike. Let me know how the blueberries turn out and thanks for sharing.
Nica
Great cookie! Used fresh c a berries too; dough was a tad pink. Just added to the rustic character of the cookie. Will certainly make again.
Patti Estep
Glad to hear it Nica. Thanks for sharing.
Renna
Mine burned up into charcoal! I even tried reducing the time and heat. I have no idea how it could’ve gone so terribly wrong!?!
Patti Estep
I'm so sorry Renna. I would have suggested reducing the time or temperature, but I see that you have already tried that.
Terri Upham
These look amazing and I am making them for a holiday cookie exchange, but I had some issues. Do you have tips for using the fresh cranberries? I used the food processor on slightly thawed whole fresh cranberries and found that it made the dough wet and pink. Did you completely thaw them first? Did you chop them by hand? Did you squeeze out the water in paper towels before adding to the dough? I want to try them again and don't want to ruin another batch. Thank you!
Patti Estep
Terri, I have never used frozen cranberries for these cookies, only fresh. Sometimes I'll chop them ahead but have also just let the metal blades of my hand mixer chop them up. There is a comment here from another reader stating that she used frozen cranberries and she chopped them by hand. Her dough was pink as well. You should be able to find fresh cranberries in the produce section of the grocery store this time of year. My only other suggestion would be to let the berries completely thaw, rinse and dry out an hour or so before chopping. You don't really want and juice/water from the berries. Hope that helps.
Renna
I hand chopped mine, which took FOREVER! But let me know how yours turn out. I was going to use mine for a cookie exchange but mine burned horribly for some reason. Maybe my oven has gone bad, but I tried reducing time and temp and they still burned. I’m so bummed because they look amazing!
Gail Fitzsimmons
Did you use salted or unsalted butter. I love cranberries and can’t wait to make them.
Patti Estep
Gail, most baking recipes call for unsalted butter but to be honest I almost always use salted. It's just easier for me to have on hand. If you prefer unsalted I suggest you add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the batter. I hope you love the cookies.
Wanda
Can the logs be frozen and then sliced and baked when needed
Patti Estep
Wanda, I haven't tried that but I think you could do it. You may need them to defrost a bit first. Let me know how it goes if you try it.
Annie M
These are the tastiest, easiest, most gorgeous cranberry shortbread cookies ever! I followed recipe exactly; rolled half of the cookies in crushed pistachios, left half plain with a sprinkling of sparkling sugar for the holidays. I liked the plain cookies best, as they look more delicate and it was easier to tell when they were done. Thank you Patti for such a great recipe!
Patti Estep
Thank you Annie for this wonderful comment. I'm so glad you like the recipe and shared your experience here.
Renna
I was just thinking that adding nuts would be so good! Sounds amazing! Great idea!