Cranberry Sugar Cookies:
Just 3 Ingredients
Cranberry Sugar Cookies are a variation of the traditional sugar cookie recipe (made with butter, flour, and sugar), yet this version differs in three ways.
- Cookie base. This recipe’s base is a quick bread or muffin mix rather than measured ingredients from scratch. By using a mix, you save time and mess.
- Cookie flavor. The added cranberry tang offers a surprising twist to the traditional rich, buttery flavor associated with most sugar cookie recipes.
- Cookie shape. Typically, sugar cookie dough is rolled out on the work surface and then cut into shapes using cookie cutters. This recipe calls for cookie dough to be rolled into small balls and pressed down, producing round cookies.
Traditional sugar cookies, also called “Nazareth Sugar Cookies” or “Amish Sugar Cookies,” originated with 18th century European settlers in Pennsylvania. They adapted their Old World biscuit recipe – an unleavened, crumbly “jumbles” that could be dried and stored for long periods of time – to what has become a popular treat.
This recipe may differ slightly with the
traditional sugar cookie version, but its simplicity and flavor make it a fun,
easy way to enjoy sugar cookies.
Prep time: 5-20 minutes (depending how long it takes you to make dough balls)
Bake time: 7-10 minutes
Makes 3 – 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 box (16-20 ounces) cranberry (or cranberry-orange) quick bread or muffin mix
¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar (for flattening cookies)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line baking sheets with parchment
paper.
- Pour ¼ cup granulated sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed,
combine mix and butter until dry ingredients are absorbed. Continue to mix the
dough 1-2 minutes more until texture becomes soft and dough holds together.
- Use a teaspoon to scoop slightly rounded 1-inch balls of
dough. Roll balls in between your hands until they are smooth. Arrange balls on
the prepared baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
- Moisten the bottom of a drinking glass with water. Dip the
glass bottom into the bowl of granulated sugar. Use the glass to slightly
flatten a formed cookie dough ball so that sugar remains on the surface. Dip
the glass bottom again into the sugar and repeat the process with each cookie.
- Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes or until edges turn a light
golden brown.
- Remove cookies from the oven and let them sit on the cookie
sheet a few minutes.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool
completely.
- Store cookies in an airtight container.
Special Baking Tip for Cranberry Sugar Cookies
Cranberry Sugar Cookies can be chewy or crispy depending on how long you bake them. For a chewier cookie, bake on the low side of the suggested time. For a crisper cookie, bake 1-2 minutes longer.
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