Cranberry Pistachio Orange Shortbread Cookies

A couple years ago, my sister sent me an email out of nowhere with this recipe and a note that said “This has to be on your blog!” And I’ll be honest…it kind of took me a while to get to it.

But I played around with the recipe, making for a co-worker on maternity leave, for my own personal consumption, and then to take to work. And somehow never got around to posting the final version that I love dearly.

And guys, these cookies are weird. They have no leavening agent and no eggs…which shouldn’t work, but it totally does. In fact, they could be vegan if you substituted coconut oil for butter (though I haven’t tried that from a texture standpoint).

Side note, this cookie dough is AMAZING. Like, try not to eat it all raw before baking it, I DARE YOU. And because there are no eggs, you don’t have to worry about raw egg in it (which…I don’t, but I know some people do).

One of the great things about this kind of recipe, where you make the dough into a log and then slice pieces off, is that you can make parts of it at a time super easily. So the last time I made this, I baked up about half the dough right after dinner, and then two days later sliced up the rest and baked it when I had my whole family over for dinner again. Bonus points because they’re really quite healthy.

Crushing. It.

I’ve included some extra notes and tips at the bottom with the recipe, so make sure to check those out. Preheat the oven to 350 F. If your pan isn’t non-stick, line it with parchment paper or Silpat. To prepare, toast the pistachios on stove top in a pan for about 5-7 minutes or in the oven, stirring once or twice in the middle so that it doesn’t burn. I like to give my cranberries a rough chop too, just to make the dough easier to cut later.

Cream together the butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and orange extract or orange zest with an electric mixer. Add one cup of the flour and the salt and stir in with a wooden spoon (a beater will make it too tough). Then add the rest of the flour and stir in. Stir in the cranberries and pistachios. The dough will likely be a little crumbly, but that’s okay.

Turn the dough out onto some plastic wrap and use your hands to shape it into a long log. Wrap it tightly with the plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. You can’t skip this step!!

When you’re ready to bake, use a serrated knife to cut each log into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch slices and arrange on the baking sheet. Do not use a “see-saw” motion while cutting it because the dough will just crumble. Just use the knife to cut down hard once. There will still be some crumbling, but you can squish it back together.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until lightly browned. The cookies don’t change much in the oven, so you’ll have to use their judgment to know when they’re done.

These keep really well for several days, as long as they’re in an airtight container or Ziploc. Also note, these are naturally unleavened, so great for the Days of Unleavened Bread.

Whole Wheat Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

3/4 cup of butter, softened
1/4 cup of white sugar
1/8 cup of maple syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of dried cranberries (I give them a rough chop to break them up)
1/2 cup of chopped pistachios, toasted
A splash of orange extract (zest from 1-2 oranges is great too)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. If your pan isn’t non-stick, line it with parchment paper or Silpat.
Toast the pistachios on stove top in a pan for about 5-7 minutes or in the oven, stirring once or twice in the middle so that it doesn’t burn.
Cream together the butter, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and orange extract or orange zest with an electric mixer.
Add one cup of the flour and the salt and stir in with a wooden spoon (a beater will make it too tough). Then add the rest of the flour and stir in.
Stir in the cranberries and pistachios. The dough will likely be a little crumbly, but that’s okay.
Turn out onto some plastic wrap and use your hands to shape it into a long log. Wrap it tightly with the plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. You can’t skip this step!!
When you’re ready to bake, use a serrated knife to cut each log into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch slices and arrange on the baking sheet. Do not use a “see-saw” motion while cutting it because the dough will just crumble. Just use the knife to cut down hard once. There will still be some crumbling, but you can squish it back together.
Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until lightly browned. The cookies don’t change much in the oven, so you’ll have to use their judgment to know when they’re done.

Notes:

You need to use either whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour in this recipe to get tender and crispy cookies; regular (hard) whole wheat flour will not be suitable for these cookies.
The maple syrup doesn’t provide a maple flavor (which is fine by me); if you want that, you should substitute maple extract for the vanilla extract.
The number of cookies you will get depends upon how thin or thick you slice the dough. I prefer mine a tad thicker, so I only get like 30-35 cookies out of this.
My sister adds 4 drops of doTERRA’s wild orange essential oil (which is food-grade) to the butter and sugar before creaming together, rather than the orange extract or zest.

Original recipe here

Other (slightly less healthy) cookie recipes I love:

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