Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies

Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies might just be the perfect little slice and bake cookies for the holidays, I’ll be making them right through to when I snag that last bag of fresh cranberries of the season (always a sad moment!)

These unique cookies are made with fresh tart cranberries and lots of orange zest, which gives them that wonderful holiday flavor combination we’ve come to love. And by using fresh cranberries instead of dried, these cookies have a vivid cranberry flavor like no other I’ve tasted. They’ll brighten up any holiday cookie assortment.

The good news: shortbread cookies freeze beautifully, and you can freeze them before or after baking.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• zest of one orange or tangerine (just the orange part, not the bitter white pith)
• 1 heaping cup fresh cranberries
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract