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
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
Recommended Equipment
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
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Rachael
Making these now. I love this flavor combo. I had about half the cranberries that wouldn’t mix in. I think it would work better if they were chopped first. I’m going to attempt them again with that change in how the cranberries are mixed in.
Cara
I have never used fresh cranberries before so this might be a silly question to most, but I’m not sure & wanted to ask before I made these cookies. Aren’t there seeds in cranberries & when eating the cookies can you tell they are in there?
Sam
Hi Cara! They are tiny, soft, edible seeds that you won’t notice when biting into them. 🙂
Cara
I went ahead & made them before you had replied back & OH.MY.GOSH!!! Sam, you’ve done it again girl!!! These are SOOOOO DELICIOUS!!! I should have known not to question one of your recipes. ALL that I’ve tried are so so good!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Jackie
Hi Sam! For the past 5 years, I make about 300 of your various holiday cookies for family members and I wanted to add this one to my cookie list. However, on the recipe card it states ½ teaspoon (1 teaspoon) baking soda and ¾ teaspoon (1 teaspoon) salt (I assume table salt). Can you please tell me which measurement for both is accurate?
Thank you so much!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Jackie, thank you so much for trying and trusting so many of my recipes! And oh no, it looks like there was a glitch with the formatting of that recipe, I’m so sorry about that! I’ve corrected it so the recipe is now correct as written (1/2 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp table salt).
Denise
Hi Sam,
I will be making these delicious sounding cookies this week. One question: should I sift the flour and, if so, do I sift it before or after measuring out the 3 cups? (I am a novice baker!)
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Denise! There’s no need to sift the flour here. 🙂
Donna Cahayla
can these be frozen?
Sam
Hi Donna! I don’t foresee any issues freezing thee. 🙂
Amy
these cookies are pretty and delicious. Did anyone else have a tough time beating this dough with a hand mixer? it was very stiff dough and clogged up the beaters. also had to press cranberries into dough by hand cause there was no way to fold them in.
Sam
Hi Amy! It shouldn’t be quite that stiff, but I’m glad you still enjoyed them. 🙂
Bobbie
I had the same issue with the dough and had to switch from my hand mixer tot KitchenAid. I followed the recipe exactly as written, but it was very thick and dry/crumbly. I also had trouble incorporating the whole cranberries. Maybe they were too big? And, my cookies did not flatten, again maybe because my cranberries were too big. I bake often, so my ingredients were fresh. what can I do next time? cuz they were delicious and I want to make them again!
Sam
Hi Bobbie! Were the cranberries frozen or very cold? Another thing to look into is just making sure the flour wasn’t accidentally over-measured. I hope that helps!
Liz
Looks like a great recipe and can’t wait to try! Can I freeze them after baking?
Sam
That should work just fine. Enjoy! 🙂
Bobbie
thank you Sam! I just ordered the scale and making them again:)
Kristi Spinnie
Absolutely DELICIOUS! My family loves the combination of orange and cranberry, so I knew I had to try these cookies. The taste, the texture–everything about this cookie is amazing. I had a bag of white chips, so I added a cup to the dough and also drizzled the baked cookies with your recommended orange glaze. I immediately went out and bought more fresh cranberries to freeze so that I can make these cookies all year long. Thank you for creating and sharing your wonderful recipes. Your instructions are so clear and easy to follow. Sugar Spun Run has become my go to place for recipes.
Sam
Thank you so much, Kristi! I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much! 🙂
jim hynes
Hi Sam
I had to make these with sweetened dried cranberries because my local store did not have fresh or frozen. Perhaps due to Thanksgiving
They are wonderful and I cant wait to make them with fresh cranberries, I bet they will really pop with flavor when done per the recipe.. But even so….Delish!
Sam
I’m so glad you still enjoyed with the dried cranberries, Jim, thank you for letting me know how they turned out!
Sadie
Okayyy I am obsessed with these cookies. They caught my eye and I decided to give them a try because they sound delicious and unique. So so good!! And simple. The hardest/most time consuming part is just zesting the oranges but even that is easy enough. I added some white chocolate to it. I chopped one bar of white chocolate very very finely (it was basically shaved) and mixed that in and it gave the cookies and very nice subtle extra burst of flavor to these already flavorful cookies. Perfect combination of sweet and tart. Highly recommend!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Sadie! 🙂
Luke
Do I have to use orange juice? Or can I use the juice of an orange?
Sam
Hi Luke! The juice of an orange will work great! 🙂
Norma de Meel
I have frozen cranberries to use. Should I thaw them first or can I use them right from the freezer. Should they be dusted with flour so they are not too wet?
Sam
Hi Norma! I would thaw the cranberries and dry them off then use as directed. 🙂
Darla Burmaster
Hi Sam.
I want to bake these for our resident bake sale at the retirement home I work at but I couldn’t get any fresh cranberries.
Is it ok to use frozen cranberries for this? Thawed or keep them frozen?
Sam
Hi Darla! You would just want to make sure to thaw the cranberries and dry them. 🙂
Sabeetha shyam
Hi ,I love your recipe , fresh cranberry are difficult to source could I use dried cranberries.
waiting to hear from you.
sabeetha
Sam
I actually cover using dried cranberries in the post. 🙂
Amy
These cookies are phenomenal! I am making them for Thanksgiving tomorrow for the family. I actually made them gluten free for a family member because I feel bad when they can’t eat the desserts that have gluten. I think she is going to love them. So yummy!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoy them so much, Amy! That’s great to hear that you were able to make them gluten free. 🙂
Jeannie W
Amy,
What gluten free flour did you use?
I cannot have wheat. Thank you for sharing,
Jeannie
Amy
Hi Jeannie,
I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour. They turned out great! Enjoy!
Amy
Terry
I agree with Frap! The ingredients list on each step is genius, and undoubtedly saves many baking “Oops!” moments, due to a missed ingredient.
Happy Thanksgiving, all! We Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving well over a month ago, so sadly, even leftovers are a thing of the past 😪
Sam
I’m so glad to hear it’s helpful, Terry! 🙂
Liz
These look amazing! Any suggestions on making the dough ahead and freezing? Thanks!
Sam
Hi Liz! I would scoop the dough balls, wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then store in a freezer bag. 🙂
Frsp
I LOVE that you put the ingredients and quantities with each step! Haven’t tried this yet but not having to scroll back up for the measurements is a great idea if working directly from your phone.