Lemon Cranberry Shortbread cookies

Ever since I started getting full cream milk, and making my own butter the house is full of it. Cream and butter, that is. And we are now using butter in everything we’d otherwise use ghee in, but that is still not a good enough demand for our excess supply! :) So I guess, all my recipes henceforth will be using white butter, and I have a feeling am slowly turning into my mother… but that’s a long story for another day! :)

These Lemon Cranberry Shortbread cookies are the first to use white butter… and you can feel the taste of butter through these.

Shortbread cookies are the simplest and easiest of cookies, and I read this particularly easy way to make them in a non-messy way. Ever since, they have been my go-to cookies. But then, its easy to get bored and fall in a rut. I realized I’ve been making chocolate based cookies for a long time, and that’s not what I was in a mood for. I wanted to experiment with flavors. A search for flavor ideas for shortbread cookies gave me this idea.

I used my regular shortbread cookies recipe, but added lemon juice and dried and chopped cranberries to it for the depth and flavor, which was both sour and sweet at the same time because of the lemon and cranberries. A definite hit ! :-D

You can make the dough and store it in the refrigerator for upto 1 month. Just fill the dough in a zip lock bag , and roll the dough with a rolling pin to remove all the air bubbles in it. Close the zip lock bag and refrigerate it. That’s all. No messy rolling the dough business. When you are expecting guests, just pop out the dough from one zip lock bag, and put them in the oven. Be a domestic goddess with these instant cookies… ;-) [This is a photo of one my earlier shortbread cookie doughs rolled in a zip lock bag]

Lemon Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

Prep time – 20 min
Freeze time – Alteast 3 hrs. You can freeze the dough for up to 1 month.
Bake Time – 14 min at 185 C per batch of ~12 cookies

Ingredients [Makes about ~45 cookies]

Butter , softened - 1 C or 200 gm
Lemon juice - 2 Tbsp
Lemon extract (optional) - 1/2 Tsp
Vanilla Extract - 2.5 Tsp
Almond Extract - 1/2 Tsp
All purpose flour - 2 C
Sugar, powdered - 1 C
Baking powder - 1/4 Tsp
Salt - 1/8 Tsp
Dried Cranberries, chopped - 1 C

Instructions
In a bowl, beat the butter with the powdered sugar. Once the sugar is incorporated into the butter, mix in the lemon juice and extracts to the butter. Mix/Beat well till the butter is airy and light and the extracts are mixed well.
Sieve the flour with the baking powder and salt.
Mix the flour into the butter gently by folding in the butter from the sides, preferably with a silicon spatula.
Once the dough is prepared, fold in the chopped cranberries.

Fill this dough into a zip lock bag and remove all the air bubbles in it by rolling the dough with a rolling pin. Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 3 hrs., and a maximum of a month.

To prepare the cookies, preheat the oven to 185 C.
Cut open the zip lock , and cut the cookies in shapes you prefer. Line them on a greased baking sheet and bake for 12-14 min.
You will know they are done when your kitchen smells buttery and citrusy , and when the cookies are just about to turn brown on the edges.
Cool and store in an airtight container for up to a week.