Pistachio Cranberry Shortbread Cookies are easy, buttery cookies filled with dried cranberries, crunchy pistachios, and orange zest. Perfect holiday cookies!
As easy as Chocolate Chip Cookies, these delicious, beautiful shortbreads are sure to be a hit for any special occasion. From Easter to Christmas, there are so many tasty Cookie Recipes to choose from.
PISTACHIO CRANBERRY SHORTBREAD COOKIES
These tasty shortbread cookies are a pistachio lover’s delight! You’ll love this easy, buttery cookie dough made with crunchy pistachios, tart cranberries, orange zest, and a full cup of butter. These ingredients are available all year round so they are perfect for any holiday or special occasion!
Pistachio Cranberry Cookies are most popular during Christmas time. They are filled with all of the holiday baking flavors you love. Since these cookies are made with dried cranberries and pistachios, you can make them for any holiday cookie platter. We love them for Easter too, the colorful stained glass mosaic pattern on them is beautiful.
Want to Shape these cookies?
Instead of slicing your Pistachio Cranberry Cookies, you can roll out the cookie dough and use cookie cutters. Just be careful to avoid the pistachio nuts at the edge of the cutter so you get even cookies. Refrigerate the dough instead of freezing so you are able to roll out the cookie dough.
Shape festive Pistachio Cranberry Cookies without using cookie cutters. Freeze the cookie dough logs in shapes like rectangles, triangles, or squares. Simply place the cookie dough on the plastic wrap, cover tightly, and form the shape you want with your hands before freezing.
Keep your Dough Cold
Having cold dough is a very important step in making Pistachio Cranberry Cookies. The butter in shortbread cookie dough needs to be completely chilled to keep your cookies from spreading. Freeze the cookie dough for at least 3 hours, or overnight for best results.
This Pistachio Cranberry Cookie dough is great for making ahead of time! Your cookie dough can be kept in the freezer for about 4-6 months, although the first month is the freshest. To use the frozen cookie dough, thaw in the refrigerator until you are able to slice it.
MORE HOLIDAY COOKIE CLASSICS:
Award Winning Gingerbread Cookies Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ginger Cookies
Brown Sugar Cookies Recipe
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VARIATIONS ON PISTACHIO CRANBERRY COOKIES
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- White Chocolate: White chocolate tastes delicious with pistachios and cranberries. Stir in half cup of white chocolate chips to your cookie dough. You can also use dark chocolate chips too!
- Nuts: If you aren’t a pistachio fan, or just want more nuts, try chopped pecans, slivered almonds, or walnuts in these cookies.
- Flavoring: Bring out more flavor in your shortbread cookies by adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract or almond extract to your wet ingredients.
- Oatmeal: Make these a heartier cookie by substituting a ½ cup of rolled oats for the flour in your cookie dough.
- Cranberries: Dried cranberries are bit sweeter than fresh cranberries but you definitely use fresh cranberries instead in these cookies. Roughly chop fresh cranberries in a food processor before adding.
MORE DELICIOUS COOKIE CLASSICS:
Black and White Cookies
Coconut Macaroons
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Hershey’s Kiss Cookies
HOW TO STORE PISTACHIO CRANBERRY COOKIES
- Serve: Pistachio Cranberry Cookies will stay fresh at room temperature for about 5 days. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
- Store: Refrigerate these cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Cool completely before storing.
- Freeze: The cookie dough can be frozen in plastic wrap for up to 6 months. Baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container and frozen for up to 3 months.
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shelled pistachio nuts , chopped
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Sift together flour, cinnamon and salt then add gradually into the stand mixer on low speed until just combined.
- Add in the pistachios, cranberries and orange zest and mix for just 5 seconds until combined.
- Separate the dough into two balls and roll into logs.
- Wrap each piece of dough with saran wrap and freeze for 3 hours.
- Cut cookies 1/2" thick and bake for 12-15 minutes or until just golden.
Nutrition
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Like many others posted below, sadly my dough was SUPER crumbly. Didn’t even hold together. Super sad.
Dough did not hold together when cut and baked. The crumbs are delicious but the cookies look terrible
Sorry but the receiepe didn’t turn out how can u cut frozen dough and they were very sandy did like at all. The dough was very crumbly
All I can find is salted pistachio’s. Shoul I just get those and rinse them?
You should be fine not having to rinse them. I can’t imagine it’ll really be noticeable.
ahhh I can’t wait to make these come the holidays!!
Enjoy!
I definitely fall into the pistachio lovers camp and these cookies were no exception. So dang delicious, I just couldn’t stop eating them!
So glad you enjoyed them! They’re such a great treat!
I am SO excited to try this recipe, it looks delicious!
Enjoy!
Pistachio & cranberry go so well together. These cookies are crunchy & so good!
So glad you enjoyed them, Natalie.