Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies - AU Cups
These easy egg free cookies, flavoured with orange and dried cranberries and drizzled with white chocolate, are the perfect festive cookie!
Equipment
- Stand beater with paddle attachment or hand mixer
- 3 baking trays lined with baking paper
- 8cm star shaped cookie cutter
Ingredients
- ⅔ c unsalted butter softened
- ½ c icing sugar
- ¾ tablespoon orange zest from approx. 1 orange
- 1 ¾ c plain flour
- 1½ tablespoons cornflour cornstarch
- pinch salt
- ¾ c dried cranberries finely chopped
- 50 g white chocolate roughly chopped
Instructions
- Place the butter, sugar and orange zest in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy using either a handmixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Sift in the flour, cornflour, salt and add the finely chopped dried cranberries and beat until just combined. Don’t over mix.
- Form the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film / plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to 48 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 140 ℃ fan / 160˚C / 325˚F.
- Line 3 baking trays with baking parchment and set aside.
- Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking parchment to a thickness of 6mm.
- Using a 8cm star shaped cookie cutter, cut out stars and carefully place them on the lined trays.
- Re-roll the scraps of dough and continue to cut out stars until all the dough is used.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges.
- Cool the cookies on the trays for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cookies are cold, melt the white chocolate. Either place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water, and slowly melt. Or place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and melt for 20 seconds, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.
- Drizzle the white chocolate over the cookies and leave the chocolate to harden at room temperature.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2-3 days.
Notes
STORAGE
- Room temperature: Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days. They tend to lose their crisp texture after this time.
- Freeze: Freeze the unbaked dough for up to 3 months, or freeze the cooked cookies (without chocolate) for 3 months.
- Butter – I recommend using unsalted butter and adding a pinch of salt. I don’t recommend substituting with margarine as real butter gives the shortbread cookies their classic buttery flavor.
- Icing sugar – also known as confectioners or powdered sugar. This helps create melt in the mouth cookies.
- Plain flour / all purpose flour – provides structure to the cookies.
- Cornflour / cornstarch – creates a tender, light shortbread cookie.
- Orange zest – fresh orange zest, finely zested. This amount is from 1 orange.
- Dried cranberries – Make sure the cranberries are finely chopped to make it easier to stamp out with the star cookie cutter.
- White chocolate – roughly chopped white chocolate, or white chocolate chips.
- Use softened butter, otherwise it will be hard to incorporate the rest of the ingredients.
- Placing the dough in the fridge helps develop the rich flavour and stops the cookies from spreading in the oven.
- Don’t overwork the dough as this can make your shortbread cookies tough.
- Don’t overbake the shortbread stars as they can taste slightly bitter and become dry.
- White chocolate can easily clump or burn, so whether you use a double boiler (heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water) or microwave, use a gentle heat and keep an eye on the chocolate as it melts.
Nutrition
Calories: 88kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 1gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 11mgSodium: 2mgPotassium: 16mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 126IUVitamin C: 0.3mgCalcium: 6mgIron: 0.3mg
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