Orange Cranberry Cookies
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My soft and chewy orange cranberry cookies are infused with real orange zest and juice (no extracts or flavors!). They’re punctuated with pops of fresh cranberries and are so festive. No chilling required!
A Festive Flavor Combination
Following closely on the heels of my cranberry orange muffins, today I have another fun & festive cranberry-infused recipe to share. While the cookies themselves are quite easy to make, the recipe itself was a bit tricky to master.
To get an authentic orange flavor without any extracts, I incorporated orange juice and orange zest into the batter. These added amazing flavor; however, they were very wet and created cakey cookies–something that needed to be fixed as I’m team soft and chewy cookie.
To remedy this, I knew I had to cut the liquid elsewhere. In this case, that meant omitting the egg whites and using just 2 egg yolks instead (a tip I picked up from my lemon poppy seed cookies).
The end result? Soft, chewy, and brightly flavored orange cookies punctuated with pops of tart cranberries. We’ll roll them in a little orange sugar before baking, too, which adds the final extra punch of orange flavor to balance that strong, tart flavor of the cranberries. These are seriously SO good, brightly flavored and perfectly festive, and I can’t wait for you to try them!
What You Need
Before we begin, let’s briefly go over the ingredients you need to make this cookie recipe a success:
- Fresh Oranges. How many oranges you need will depend on their size. I can often get away with one large one, but I’d recommend grabbing two just to be safe!
- Cranberries. Make sure to wash, dry, and inspect your cranberries before adding them to the cookie dough. I talk about making these cookies with dried cranberries in the FAQ section below.
- Unsalted butter. We’ll start with softened butter and cream it with our sugars and orange zest. This step draws out the oils in the orange zest and infuses that flavor throughout the dough. If you only have salted butter, you can reduce the salt in the recipe to ¼ teaspoon.
- Egg yolks. As I mentioned above, we will only need egg yolks in this recipe. You can discard your egg whites or use them to make coconut macaroons (my recipe uses exactly two egg whites!), meringue cookies, or French macarons.
- Cornstarch. A tablespoon of cornstarch here ensures our orange cranberry cookies will stay tender and chewy, but NOT cakey.
Just like with my cranberry orange muffins, we are intentionally leaving out the vanilla extract in this recipe, as I found it conceals the orange flavor too much.
SAM’S TIP: Spruce up your orange cranberry cookies with white chocolate! You can either add white chocolate chips to the batter or drizzle the tops with melted white chocolate after they cool.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Orange Cranberry Cookies
- Beat the butter, sugar, and orange zest in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks and orange juice, then mix until fully incorporated.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the cranberries until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Make the orange sugar – rub the orange zest and granulated sugar together with your fingers, making sure to fully infuse the sugar with orange zest.
- Scoop and roll 1 ½ tablespoon balls of dough between your palms before rolling the orange sugar topping. Place 2″ apart on parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes at 350F (175C) and let cool for 5-10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
SAM’S TIP: For soft and chewy results, take the cookies out of the oven when the edges are just starting to turn a light golden brown. We’ll let them cook a little longer on their baking sheets outside the oven, then remove them to a cooling rack.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven’t tried this myself with this recipe. While I think you could, it would change the texture of the cookie as the fresh cranberries actually add some moisture to the dough. I do worry the cookie dough will be a bit drier than it is when made as written (or too sweet, as sugar is often added to dried cranberries), but feel free to experiment. You could also consider plumping the cranberries with boiling water or liquor before adding them to the dough.
Sure! My vanilla glaze would work well here. You could even substitute the vanilla extract and milk with orange juice to make an orange glaze.
I supposed you could add some, but I don’t find it necessary here with the orange zest and juice. I don’t recommend substituting the orange zest and juice with orange extract, though–this dough was specifically designed to accommodate those ingredients and will not turn out properly otherwise.
Love cranberry cookies? Try my white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies!
Enjoy!
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Orange Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, softened (226g)
- 1 ⅓ cups (267 g) granulated sugar, 267g
- 1 Tablespoon orange zest
- 2 large egg yolk
- 3 Tablespoons orange juice
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 375g
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 2 cups (200 g) fresh cranberries, 190g
Sugar Topping
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 100g
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar, and orange zest and beat until light and fluffy.1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, 1 ⅓ cups (267 g) granulated sugar, 1 Tablespoon orange zest
- Add egg yolks and orange juice and mix until well combined.2 large egg yolk, 3 Tablespoons orange juice
- In a separate, medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- Gradually add dry mixture to wet, stirring until completely combined. Gently fold in cranberries, folding dough with a spatula until evenly distributed.2 cups (200 g) fresh cranberries
- Make the sugar topping by combining sugar and orange zest in a small dish and using your fingers to rub the sugar and zest together until all the sugar has been infused with orange.½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons orange zest
- Scoop dough by level 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoop and roll gently between your palms to make a smooth ball. Roll cookie dough through orange-sugar topping, thoroughly coating all sides. Place on baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart.
- Bake in center rack of 350F (175C) oven for 11-13 minutes, until edges of cookies begin to turn light golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes on baking sheet before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Not sure what we did wrong – but they needed about 1/2 cup more liquid than the recipe called for to be able to hold together. They were very tasty when all was said and done though – so success!!!
I’m glad you were still able to enjoy them, Ann! Did you weigh your flour? Did you make any substitutions? It sounds like the dough was a bit drier than it should be. 🙁
How many cookies does this recipe make? I’m excited to try it!
Hi Krista! It will make about 33 cookies. 🙂
made these the other day for my family but replaced the cranberry for chocolate chunks and they were a huge hit! they’re already begging me to make them again, but i was wondering if it would be okay to use rice flour instead of all purpose flour?
Yum–that sounds tasty, Elena! We haven’t baked with rice flour before, so we aren’t quite sure how that would go 🙁
I found this recipe when I was looking to use up some cranberries — it is delightful! If you follow the recipe, including reading the notes, they will come out perfectly. The pairing of cranberry and orange is legendary, enhancing the flavor of this delicate cookie. A winner!
Also, thank you for listing the exact ingredients along with each step – a helpful timesaver.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Joani! 🙂
Can you use frozen cranberries?
Hi Erin! I would probably thaw and dry them before adding to the dough. I did try the dough with frozen cranberries and it made the dough really tough to work with. I hope this helps! 🙂
Made these and everyone loved them. Thank you so much for sharing. I just went by the ingredients one by one in a bowl, stirring after each addition and done.
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Can craisins be used instead of fresh cranberries since they are seasonal?
Hi Bev! I actually cover some of my concerns using them in the FAQ section in the post. 🙂
Something new and different and these are every bit as good as they look! First batch disappeared within a day, so I made another batch the next day and they got eaten just as quickly. I love their soft texture and sweet orange, and tart cranberry flavors. Thank you! This recipe is a keeper!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Heather! 🙂
I’ve been looking for a recipe using leftovers of your fresh cranberry sauce and decided to try this recipe, substituting about 2 cups of leftover cranberry sauce for the fresh cranberries and orange juice. I was pretty nervous but it worked out great and they are delicious! I had to bake them a bit longer – 15 minutes. They are still moist and chewy, but at 12 minutes they were still raw inside.
We’re glad it worked out for you, Linda! You could also try using it as a filling for thumbprint cookies or a topping for mini cheesecakes 😊
I made these for work and they’re wonderful! Word of mouth had the entire batch disappear, and requests for the recipe appear!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lydia! 🙂
I made these for the first time the other night and they are delicious! I especially like rolling them in sugar before baking. I’m definitely making these again. Thanks (and thanks for adding the ingredients under each step – really helpful 🙂 )!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Kim, thank you so much for commenting!
Everyone adores these cookies. I’ve never made anything quite like them- the fresh cranberry was so tasty. I used Demerara sugar with the zest to roll since I was running out of regular sugar, and the Demerara made them kind of like cafe style muffin tops. Will absolutely make again & maybe vary with lemon blueberry!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
I rarely leave comments but this cookie deserves a good one. I made these and took them to a cookie exchange at a neighbors house. There were around 20 or so different cookies brought by the neighbors and friends. I won 1st Place in the judging. I did need to bake them about 3 minutes longer to get the edges just to brown up a little more. Thanks Sam. This is my go to website for baking.
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Dennis! 🙂
They were very tasty. At first I wasn’t sure about the fresh cranberries but they worked wonderfully. I really liked rolling in the sugar with zest. Thank you for sharing.
I just made these cookies today and they are wonderful! I think these might be one of my favorite cookies. I need to pay attention though as some of my cookies only had 1 cranberry in them ‘and to me, that is the best part. That’s on me. I also really like the way you put the amounts of ingredients in the instructions instead of having to scroll up frequently. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Patricia! 🙂
I wanted to try a different cookie for my family’s weekly weekend visit. I made this cookie and it was wonderful. I thought the dough seemed a bit dry and wondered how the cranberries would mix in, but it worked just fine. I used a #40 scoop and they formed perfect little balls. I rolled them in coarse sugar for a lovely light crunch to the exterior. That little burst of cranberry was delightful. Thank you for giving us such an unusual and delicious cookie.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Lorley! 🙂
It’s been a week since I made these cookies and I’m still receiving rave reviews. They loved the texture and the flavor combination. Very different and definitely a keeper! I’m so glad I took the leap of faith in you to try this unusual recipe. Thanks again.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Lorley! 🙂