Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, yesterday.
Remember these? I made them again yesterday. SO pretty!!
I'm going to briefly veer away from my Costa Rica recap and head back to the reason I originally started this blog: to talk about food! Baking in particular! You all know
I love tea. I. Love. Tea. I'm not talking about a good ole cup of Earl Grey, but
afternoon tea and all the frilly girlie goodness that goes along with it: silver, china, tablecloths, cloth napkins, finger sandwiches, lemon curd, scones, sugar cubes, clotted cream, petit fours... Frequently you'll also find cookies served at the end of afternoon tea, along with the petit fours (or in lieu of). I'm hot and cold about cookies in general. I know that sounds crazy since I'm a baker. But bakers don't have to love everything they bake... I mean, I don't even love eating
my own macarons! (I know - I know... there's something wrong with me).
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| Cranberry tea cookies with.... tea! |
However, these cranberry tea cookies are ridiculous. I can't stop eating them. In fact, I think I can't make them anymore because I will NOT STOP EATING them. To make matters worse, they're super easy to make. So combine easy-to-make with delicious and you're in a dangerous spot.
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| It's kinda crazy how good these cookies are - especially for how simple they are to make |
I'm not sure why I don't love cookies. I also don't love cake - but I guess that's another blog post... Cookies are boring to me, maybe. They're not always very pretty - even when they taste great. I think cookies are frequently done poorly too - especially homemade ones. OK, ok... I know - now I'm just getting snobby. But it seems people so often over-bake cookies that I just no longer trust I'm gonna get a tasty morsel when I'm offered one. Instead, by default - I
always turn them down. *sigh*
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| I ate all of these after I took this photo... seriously. |
OK, so less tooting of the horn and more discussion on the blog post topic, yes? The cranberry tea cookies. These are technically called Cranberry Noel Cookies and I believe the original recipe has coconut in it. Um, no thanks. With a name like cranberry NOEL cookies - these are really a Christmas cookie. But I love them. And I wanted some in April. So I'm calling them Cranberry Tea Cookies. Problem solved.
Of course you can eat these cookies with coffee instead of tea. Or a glass of milk. Or like I do, out of the cookie jar with no accompanying beverage.
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| The original recipe doesn't call for this - but I thought it was a nice touch |
I decided to make a little change to the original recipe which was given to us by a family friend... I roll the edges of the cookies in sugar before baking. I originally did this because I thought I'd been a bit too generous with my cranberries and nuts in one batch and made the cookies not-sweet-enough. So I rolled them in granulated sugar. I loved how they turned out though; the sugar made them sparkle and the little crunch it added was very lovely. I continue to roll them in sugar whether I'm heavy handed with the accouterments, or not!
Want the recipe? I know you do...
Cranberry Noel Tea Cookies
Makes 35-40 cookies
2-4 oz sticks salted butter at room temperature (8 oz total)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T milk or cream
1 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 c chopped pecans
3/4 c chopped dried cranberries
1/4 c extra sugar
Cream butter and sugar til fluffy. Add milk and vanilla - mix. Add flour and salt - mix well. It might seem crumbly at this point but if you keep blending it will come together eventually. Add the cranberries and pecans.
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| Add cranberries and pecans... |
Roll into 2 logs about 8 x 1 1/2". Wrap and chill for 2 hours in the fridge. I've also put them in the freezer for 30-60 minutes and this works the same way. You just want it to be firm enough to cut without misshaping the round cookie.
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Roll into logs
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| Wrap and chill for 2 hours |
Slice cookies about 1/4" thick. Roll edges of cookie in sugar (if you want. But I highly recommend!)
Place on lightly greased cookie sheets, or Silpats. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. DON'T OVER-BAKE (well, unless you like hard hockey puck type cookies...)
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| Place on cookie sheet |
Eat. Eat more. Eat a few more. Give some to friends - wait, just kidding.
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| Eat... |
Posts
a delicious lisa endorsement that's easy enough for even *ME* to make? dangerous... very dangerous... ;)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThese look lovely, Lisa!! I love cookies like this :) Would you mind if I made up a batch and put them on my foodie blog with a link back to your site? Thx, Linda @ Lemon Drop
ReplyDeletehttp://lemondropsfoodie.blogspot.com/
Linda: sure thing! What is on my blog is out there for everyone to share! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa !!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm making these for sure!! Beautiful photos -
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, Thanks for a cookie recipe without eggs - my son is allergic and I've had a hard time finding non-egg baked goods. Anyway, I made these today and they were delicious. But out of 1 log, I only got 5 round-shaped cookies. The others crumbled (in half or more) when I cut them. :( What did I do wrong?
ReplyDeleteI have had this problem with other cookies. Here's what I've noticed and what has helped me.
DeleteThe dough really does need to be packed in really tightly and definitely needs to be cold. I use a santoku knife to cut the cookies. It's sharp and because of the shape of the blade I can slice all the way down to the cutting board without being awkward. Slice straight down without rocking the blade. I just made this mistake. :) and the last one is to not to go to thin. My cookies are thicker than a quarter of an inch but thinner than half an inch. 3/8ths maybe? Lol hope this helps! These cookies are great!
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteHhhmmmm..... Here are a few things I can think of:
1) make sure your butter is very soft when you're first mixing the cookies - so that the batter is very well mixed.
2) when you form it into a log - squeeze it very tight. Make sure the log is very firm - really pack it together like you're molding clay. This is *probably* where you went wrong?
3) be sure the dough is almost hard when you start cutting it. The harder/colder it is, the easier it will be to cut straight through without crushing/mis-shaping or crumbling the cookies as you cut.
4) if they crumble as you cut them - could you mush them back together in a round shape?
I really can't think of anything else since this has never happened to me. But maybe try incorporating these and see how it goes?
Here is another egg-less cookie recipe. It's almost the exact same cookie except with the small differences, they do taste quite different:
http://www.lisaisbossy.com/2008/11/everyone-wants-little-russian-in-them.html
Thanks Lisa. I think the problem was #2 with a little of #1. The butter was not cold, but was not very soft either. On #4, I could not push them back together to re-form a circle, but the "scraps" were delicious anyway! I used walnuts and will try them with almonds next time. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteI thought these were delicious! Kind of like a cranberry pecan shortbread. Perfect for tea!
ReplyDeleteThese sound and look delicious. I live in England but am going to try this using Craisins.
ReplyDelete1. Could you please tell me how many oz. 2 sticks of butter is?
2. Flour - plain or self-rising?
Thank you!
Denise
2 sticks butter equals about 230 grams. Usually in the U.S., if just "flour" is listed, it means all-purpose, not self-rising.
DeleteThey ARE delicious!
ReplyDeleteA "stick" of butter is 4 oz. (so 8 oz. total in this recipe) and just all purpose flour - not self rising.
Hi Lisa, I had tried this cookies....really delicious!
ReplyDeletehowever, i have few problems just wonder you know where i did wrong.
i have replaced cranberries with blackcurrant and i d't put in pecans. i cannot make up the log as the dough is too soft, thus i add in extra 50gm flour and finally the log is able to rolled up.
after the cookies baked, i let it cool down on the baking tray, while i am try to move out the cookies, the blackcurrant is stick on the parchment paper.
My trader joes has orange infused cranberrys, wow are they good in this cookie recipe! Thanx so much for sharing
ReplyDeleteYou could also use this as a pie crust. Just press in the pan and bake. If you have ever had a 4 layer delight which has butter flour and nuts as the crust. Just a thought. I like to see how to use recipes in different ways.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried to make without the nuts? (allergies) Just wondering how they taste? thanks! Kim
ReplyDeleteLove this recipe, made it the original way then made it with dried tart cherries and pecans, then dried blueberries and chopped almonds, not my favorite, but everyone else loved them, then I did a special request dried tart cherries and miniature semi sweet chocolate chips, also yum.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeleteCan you tell me how many grams is a stick?
Thanks
Danoush
About 114 grams equals 1 stick of butter in U.S.
DeleteHi Danoush, it's about 112 grams of salted butter in 1 stick.
ReplyDeleteCould this recipe be made gluten free? I have a family member that can't eat regular flour. Was wondering if soy flour or rice flour could be used to replace regular flour.
ReplyDeletei've tried it with gluten free with a mix of baking soda and rice flour and almond meal they're a little denser but still good
DeleteHi Jessie, I've never made these with anything other than regular all purpose flour - but please try it out and let us know in the comments? I haven't done much baking with gluten-free alternatives but would still love to know how they could turn out if I needed to someday.
ReplyDelete~Lisa
I made these and I love them! They taste so good. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat more than one because I'm taking them to a ladies function tomorrow. :( Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! This will be one of my holiday favorites.
ReplyDeletewww.thepreppylittlepolkadot.blogspot.com
I plan on making these for a cookie exchange, but there is a nut-allergy. Do you think I could sub the pecans for chocolate chips?
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin, sure I would say you could put anything in and try it! I'm not sure if you could have problems cutting through the chocolate chips when you slice them into the cookies though...? You could just leave the nuts out all together and keep only the cranberries (or add a little sweetened coconut like I think the original recipe calls for).
ReplyDeleteI'm looking to give frozen cookie dough as gifts to my neighbors this year. Do you think this would freeze well for them to bake at a later date? It would look cute if I formed a log, froze it and tied off ends with ribbons, I think! :)
ReplyDeleteFreezing the log would definitely be just fine! The dough freezes beautifully. And even better, your neighbors don't have to let it fully thaw before they start slicing it into cookies!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the quick response, Lisa! Another question - recipe says salted butter, is that right?
ReplyDeleteYes, salted butter. I'm guessing the original recipe called for margarine which is kinda out of style now :) You could also do unsalted with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon additional salt per stick of butter.
ReplyDeleteI found this recipe on Pinterest. I wanted to make them and blog about them, as I love this type of icebox cookie. I've been anxious to try these for 3 days now...it will happen tomorrow. I hope. :) Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI had a hard trying to figure out how much butter was to be used. It stick of butter is 4 oz. 2 sticks is 8 oz. So 4 sticks is 16oz. Well I used 4 sticks of butter...because according to your recipe it says 2-8oz sticks of butter. Which would bring it to 16 oz. What a disaster..... they are oily and thin. Nothing like the picture. I was really looking forward to these...did I read this wrong for the butter? How many oz. Total are you supposed to use? I really want to try again....ugh
ReplyDeleteACK!! You're right - so sorry Cassandra! That was a typo (and I had JUST changed the recipe since it originally said "2 sticks of butter" and people kept asking me how much that was. So I wrote in the ounces, and with my typo, just made it worse!) It's supposed to be 8 ounces TOTAL. Each stick is 4 ounces. I have it fixed now.
ReplyDeleteThank you for clarifying. ?.I will try again tomorrow....they look really good and I cant just give up....when I was putting the 4 sticks in I was thinking...."this is a heart attack waiting to happen". I will let you know tomorrow how they turn out...thank you again
ReplyDeleteDefinitely going to try these! Not in the mood for cranberries??? Try dried apricots! Also, perhaps 2/3 cup white chocolate chips in the batter would eliminate the need for rolling in sugar? Just a thought.....
ReplyDeleteLoved this recipe. First batch I cut at the 1/4 inch and they crumbled way to easily. Second batch cut at about 1/2 which looks more like your picture and they are perfect. I 1/2 dipped in melted chocolate and let set and it turned out delicious!
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing,I've taken down the recipe. will certainly be making some of these.
ReplyDeleteThese look great! Thoughts on how best to veganize them? Suggestions for the room temp butter and milk/cream swaps? Wasn't sure if earth balance/margarine would be better vs. an oil like coconut or canola, and if you think soy, almond, or coconut milk would make for the right texture there. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love cranberry and orange together so I would add the cranberry flavored Craisins that someone mentioned and also some orange zest. Yum!
ReplyDeleteI AS WELL HAVE ADDED ORANGE TO THIS RECIEPE FOR A DECANDANT TASTE. ROLL THE WHOLE LOG IN SUGAR BEFORE SLICING. ONCE SLICED AND PLACED ON COOKIE SHEET THEN SPRAY BOTTOM OF GLASS AND FLATTEN A BIT MORE. THIS THEN MAKES FOR ONE NICE CRIP COOKIE WITH A HOT CUP OF TEA.
ReplyDeleteI took these to a potluck and they were a huge hit! Everyone commented on how the cookie is not too sweet or too rich and took several. Thanks for a lovely recipe!
ReplyDeleteTried it. Great! Tried it again with walnuts and dates instead of pecan/cran. Almost as good. Almost.
ReplyDeleteI made these tonight and they were delicious! I tweaked the recipe just a little. Because I don't care for nuts, I omitted them and added white chocolate chips instead and they are fantastic! I had no problem cutting through the nearly frozen log. Everyone at home loves them so I'm going to have to give some away for Christmas or I'll never fit into my jeans again!
ReplyDeleteCan these be made with fresh cranberries?
ReplyDeleteI've never tried - but if you do, let us know your results!
DeleteThis recipe is amazing! Thank you for sharing with us. I made them with orange and pecans. I prepare it and freeze it. When I have last minute guests I put it in the oven. It's perfect.
ReplyDeletethanks for the recipe, it looks fantastic. However, what does ''t'' vanilla and ''T' milk mean??
ReplyDeletethank you'
t = teaspoon
DeleteT = tablespoon
I found mixed dried fruit, cranberry, blueberry, cherry...and I'm going to try almond extract instead of vanilla, for a new twist ,,wish me luck
ReplyDeleteI made these last week and they were wonderful. I followed the recipe exactly. I recommend chopping the cranberries, whole ones will make the cutting difficult. Definite winner!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this recipe.....I made it last Christmas and since then I made it 5 more times and I doubled it each time...it is never enough for our family !!! I can't wait for Christmas this year !!!!
ReplyDeletewhats best way to store them , want to give for christmas as take home container. also try cutting with thin string, like unwaxed dental floss
ReplyDeleteSorry I know this is too late - but if you're going to store them, I'd put them in an airtight container and into the freezer. They'll be great when you defrost!
Deletetry cutting with unwaxed dental floss.
ReplyDeleteThese are amazing making them as gifts this Christmas so yummy
ReplyDeleteAny idea of nutritional values?
ReplyDeleteNo, but there are lots of online calculators you could try for any recipe!
DeleteI made these last year and LOVE them. My favorite cookie recipe. Odd question maybe but I'm wondering if you will start blogging again? :). Or do you blog under another name now? Thanks Nancy
ReplyDeleteYou're so sweet - I wish I had the time to blog again. I'm now married with a toddler and another on the way and there is just no time to blog. I don't even bake like I used to...so sad. But hopefully again someday when the kids are older! I'm glad you love the cookies. :)
DeleteCookie logs are in the freezer! I love that it doesn't have egg so I can eat the dough :D (not that raw egg has ever stopped me before...) The dough is delish and I'm so excited to have these with my tea tonight! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteOk... these are amazing.
DeleteMade a double batch of these today. Cranberry, pistachio orange zest. Delish!basically easy. This will be a holiday favorite for sure! Thank you for the great pics that caught my eye and tempted me to give it a try😁
ReplyDeleteMade a double batch of these today for my annual cookie exchange. Easy and yummy! It doesn't get better than that and I followed the directions exactly, to a tee.
ReplyDelete