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The ultimate cranberry cookies start with chai spiced sugar cookie dough with added dried cranberries, pistachios, candied orange peel, and a dollop of cranberry curd.

cranberry cookies on plate with whole pistachios and cranberries

I’ve been so excited about the prospect of these cookies for weeks now. I love cooking and baking with big bold flavors and colors, and these cookies have them in spades. In one bite you get the sweet tart tang of cranberries, the bittersweet edge of the candied orange, the buttery crunch of pistachio and just enough chai spice blend to tie everything together in a pretty bow.

There’s a lot going on in these cookies. Though the flavors are totally different, if you’ve ever had cuccidati, the classic Sicilian fig Christmas cookies, you might get similar vibes of contrasting flavors and textures. There’s layers on layers of flavor and texture here, and I’m all here for it.

Plus the cranberry curd is so pretty. These cookies are like giant jam thumbprints after a serious makeover. Make a batch of these cookies, and they’ll be an instant centerpiece that tastes as vivid as they look.

I could gush more, but let’s bake!

Cranberry Cookies with cranberry curd

cranberry cookies on plate, text overlay

Why these cookies will have you dancing around the kitchen

So much flavor and texture: These cookies pack a punch. If you like big bold flavors that play off each other, you’ll adore these cookies.
Gorgeous: Whenever I’m trying to think through Holiday cookies, I’m always looking for ones with big beautiful color. I’m pretty sure you could put these next to the lovely Prue Leith and they might have half a chance of being as colorful.
Cranberry and orange really are made for each other: If you have never had candied orange peel, this cookie will convince you forever of it’s incredible flavor force-multiplying powers. It unlocks something in cranberry and vice versa you won’t be quite prepared for…in a good way.
You might think twice about cranberry: I think people underestimate how good cranberries are because we’re all so used to cranberry sauce. With cranberries used in two different ways, you might start to see how tasty they can be. P.S. I make a cranberry version of my fillings for kolache, and it’s everyone’s favorite Fall kolac filling.

Cranberry Cookies Ingredients

Butter
Oil, preferably high-oleic like La Tourangelle sunflower oil
Powdered sugar
Egg
Vanilla paste
Vanilla sugar: for more vanilla flavor!
Chai spice blend or ground ginger
All-purpose flour

Baking soda
Cream of tartar
Salt
Dried cranberries
Candied orange peel
Cranberry Curd: you can also use raspberry jam which is almost as tasty and every bit as pretty
Chopped pistachios

Equipment you need to make cranberry curd cookies

Tartlet tamper: You’ll use the wider end of a tartlet tamper to make a hole where the cranberry curd goes. You could use the bottom of a small cup too.
Nut chopper: I’ve always had one of those hand crank nut chopper gadgets. It’s one of the few unitaskers I always have on hand. It does such a good job chopping up nuts without getting too much dust or having nuts fly off the cutting board. Use a knife if that’s what you have, but the nut chopper really is a brilliant little tool.
Cookie scoop: Optional, but I love my Black Vollrath scoop. It makes it easy to measure out even balls of dough. Even balls of dough bake evenly!

Basic process for making cranberry cookies

Mix: mix up the dough.
Chill: Chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
Ball it up: Scoop the dough into balls.
Chop: chop the pistachios in a nut chopper on the coarse setting or with a knife.
Roll: Roll the cookies in chopped pistachios.
Bake: Bake the cookies until just browning around the edges.
Smoosh: use the tartlet tamper to press down the centers of the hot cookies to leave room for the cranberry curd.
Fill: Fill the cookies with a spoonful of cranberry curd.

Cranberry Cookies with Cranberry Curd

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 1 hour 14 minutes (including 30 minutes chilling)
Yield: 25 cookies 1x

Print Recipe

Description

These cookies show off the best things about cranberry. With bright jeweled cranberry curd and chunks of both dried cranberries and candied orange peel and a sprinkle of pistachios, these cookies are a symphony of Holiday flavors and textures. There are few cookies to make in the season of Thanksgiving to Christmas that are prettier.

Ingredients

Scale

Cranberry Cookie Dough

1 sticks butter, at room temperature (113 g)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 g)
1 Tablespoon vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chai spice blend or ground ginger
1/2 cup oil (preferably cold-pressed safflower or sunflower, see note) (118 mL)
1 large egg
1 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste
2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (276 g)
1 cup dried cranberries (114 g)
1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel (optional, but awesome)(25 g)

For baking

1/2 cup chopped pistachios (60 g)

For finishing

3/4 cup cranberry curd or raspberry jam

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Instructions

Beat the butter with the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and chai spice blend in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer just to soften it. Slowly drizzle in the oil with the mixer on until you have a smooth mixture of butter and oil.
Mix in the eggs and the vanilla paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then mix for a few more seconds until you have a very smooth batter.
Measure in the flour, cranberries and chopped candied orange peel.
With the mixer on, slowly mix everything just until the flour disappears.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Towards the end of the chilling time, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Line sheet trays with parchment (you’ll need 3, but use as many as you have less than 3).
Scoop out large balls of dough (a little less than 2 oz).
Fill a small bowl with the chopped pistachios. Roll each ball just to round it off in your hands and then roll the top of the ball in the pistachios.
Place 8 balls on a sheet tray, pistachio side up.
Loading up the oven with 2 sheet trays at a time, bake the cookies for 6 minutes. After 6 minutes, rotate the sheet trays 180 degrees, and then swap the trays from top to bottom (or bottom to top as it were). Bake for 7 more minutes (13 minutes total).
Immediately take the hot cookies out of the oven and press the center of the cookie down with either a small cup or a tartlet tamper to make room to hold the cranberry curd. Allow the cookies to cool for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Fill the cooled cookies with a spoonful of cranberry curd.
Store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge in a single layer or stacked with a piece of parchment between layers. You can also freeze these cookies without the cranberry curd or the dough itself for up to 3 months. Fill thawed cookies before serving.