Soft, chewy, delicious cranberry orange cookies are the ultimate Christmas cookie recipe this year. Dried cranberries, orange zest, and more collide in this easy cookie-cutter cookie recipe.
Drizzle these orange cranberry cookies with an orange cream cheese glaze. A dried cranberry recipe that is buttery, sweet, tart, and a must make.
Holiday flavors are found in every bite of these cookies. A fun cookie to serve up at a cookie swap, holiday gathering and more.
🍊 Why This Recipe Is A Must Make
- Basic Pantry Ingredients
- Uses dried cranberries so you can make any time of the year
- Soft and tender cookies
- A perfect twist of orange flavor in every cookie
- Homemade flavor
- Easy to make
- Cookie-cutter style cookie
🍪 Main Ingredients
Dried Cranberries | Reach for dried cranberries to give these cookies a sweet and tart flavor.
Orange | You will use orange zest and orange extract to give these cookies optimal flavor.
Cottage Cheese | I know cottage cheese sounds weird for a cookie, but trust me. It completely transforms this cookie recipe.
👩🍳 How to Make
To make your cranberry orange cookies start by cutting your flour and butter together till it forms pea size texture.
Now you will stir in your dried cranberries, cottage cheese, orange zest and mix until it forms a ball. Refrigerate the dough for an hour in the fridge.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat to prevent sticking.
Take your chilled cookie dough and roll out to 1/8” thick. I used a rolling pin.
Then cut your cookies with a 2 1/4 inch circle cookie cutter. Form scraps and roll out, and repeat until all the dough is used.
Bake in the center rack of the oven for around 12-15 minutes or until they are slightly browned. Then remove the cookies and place them on a cooling rack.
Once your cookies are cooled you can work on your orange cream cheese frosting. Add ingredients into a bowl, and then drizzle over the top of the cooled cookies.
Storing And Meal Prep
Storing: I recommend storing these cookies in the fridge. Just place in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. If you stack place a layer of wax paper in between each layer to prevent sticking.
Freezing | If you want to freeze your cookies that you don’t plan to eat go right ahead. Just allow them to fully cool and then place in a freezer-friendly container or bag.
Freeze for up to three months. Then thaw in the fridge overnight before you plan to serve these cookies up.
⏲️ Expert Tips
- Add in 1/4 cup chopped pecans into the cookie batter for a crunch.
- You can use other cookie cutter shapes, even a Christmas tree for Christmas themed.
- Consider adding in 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips for added sweetness.
- If you don’t want to use orange extract add a splash of orange juice to the cream cheese frosting.
- Fresh orange zest is best, make sure to only do the orange and not scrape the white part or it will be tart.
- Use the cook time as a guide, and watch your cookies. As all ovens cook differently and you don’t want to overbake and dry out the cookies.
📌 Recipe FAQS
If you want to make these cranberry orange cookies and don’t have a cookie cutter no worries. Simply use a cup to cut out your cookies. If they are smaller in size adjust the cook time.
Wash and dry your orange. Then you will use your zester and carefully scrape the orange. Only scrape off the orange part, not the white. The white flesh is bitter.
Consider using sugar crystals to sprinkle on top of the cookies if you don’t want to do a cream cheese glaze. Or do naked cookies with no topping at all. You can also dip in white chocolate, or partially dip.
More great recipes to try
Cranberry Orange Cookies
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons cottage cheese
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
Cream Cheese Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange extract
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 oz unsalted butter softened
Instructions
- Start by adding your flour and butter into a bowl. You will want to work the doug hand break it up until it forms small pea size crumbles.
- Now you will stir in cottage cheese, orange zest, and cranberries.
- Once your cookie dough is mixed, roll into a ball and place in the fridge for up to an hour.
- Now preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line your baking sheet with a silicone mat or grease the pan.
- Roll out your dough to 1/8 inch thick. Then use a 2 – 2 1/4 inch cookie cutter.
- Place cookies on pan and bake 12-15 minutes.
- Once done remove and place on a cooling rack.
- When your cookies are fully cooled, you can add your powdered sugar, orange extract, butter, and cream cheese in a bowl. Whisk until fully creamy. Then drizzle the cream cheese glaze over the cookies.
- Store your cranberry orange cookies in the refrigerator.
Notes
- You can double this recipe if you need to have extra cookies on hand.
- Freeze leftover cookies you don’t plan to eat. They will freeze up to three months.
- Store your cookies in the fridge.
- Place wax paper between the layers if you plan to stack to prevent sticking.
- Add in some white chocolate chips for flavor or even crushed pecans for a crunch factor.
- You can make these cookies a day in advance of when you plan to serve.
- Stick a toothpick in the cookies and if no cookie batter is on the toothpick your cookies are done.
- Don’t overbake or it will dry these cookies out and make them crunchy.
- Make sure when you zest you only get the orange-colored flesh. The white flesh will make the zest tart.
Nutrition
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