Graduation is just a few days away, so I am seriously trying VERY hard to find some motivation to study for finals....eh. Well, just because I wanted to avoid studying tax, I decided to bake some cookies! I had these cranberries sitting around in the fridge since Thanksgiving and was totally surprised at how long they lasted! They were just as yummy and fresh as they were the day I bought them from Whole Foods...now I think I'll have to buy another box of cranberries ASAP.
When I first came across this cranberry pumpkin cookie recipe from allrecipes, I was a bit hesitant about the flavor combination. I knew that cranberries and pumpkin screamed Turkey Day, but go figure that two Thanksgiving staples would produce such a tasty cookie! Silly me. These cookies definitely satisfied my craving for something sweet, and I LOVED the kick of tartness from the fresh cranberries. Not to mention, the smell of pumpkin and spices baking in the oven warmed up the kitchen and brought the holidays home. These cookies were on the cakier side, which made them lighter and fluffier than your average dense cookie. If I had walnuts, I definitely would've added them to the cookies because I love a nice crunch! Overall, this recipe was great, but I added a few more spices and replaced the white sugar with raw sugar. Perhaps next time I'll try it with brown sugar. I also added a sugar glaze on top for presentation.
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| Cookies pressed down and ready for the oven! |
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| Cooling off on the rack...lighting looks kinda funky tho lol |
Cranberry Pumpkin Cookies:
Serving Size = 36 cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup raw sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 tbs orange zest (approx 1 orange)
1) Preheat oven to 375F. Grease cookie sheets
2) Medium bowl: Cream butter + sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg, and pumpkin
3) Large bowl: Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until blended
4) Slice 1/2 cup of cranberries in halves and chop the rest. Zest 1 orange. Add cranberries, orange zest, and walnuts (optional) to dough mixture
5) Put spoon-sized balls onto cookie sheets and flatten them because they rise a lot while baking!
Tip: Dip your fingers into some flour and press the balls down flat. Otherwise, they get all gooey and messy!
6) Baking 12-14 minutes and cook for 5 minutes on cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack
7) Drizzle with glaze!
Cinnamon Glaze:
Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tbs butter, melted
1 1/2 tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1) Mix wet ingredients together. Whisk in sugar slowly to preferred consistency.
2) Use a fork to drizzle glaze over cookies
