Tis the season for baking some tasty holiday cookies! I took my basic shortbread recipe (one of my favorite buttery cookie recipes) from my cookbook and gave it a seasonal twist by dressing them up with chopped pistachios and dried cranberries. The red and green colors are perfectly on theme, and the sweet and savory flavors a delightful complement to the buttery cookies. Get the recipe below!

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Holiday Cookies.
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24 Small Cookies
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened
  • ½ cup of Granulated Sugar
  • 1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
  • 2 cups Flour
  • ¼ tsp of Salt
  • ½ cup of Pistachios, chopped
  • ½ cup of Dried Cranberries, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Combine butter, sugar, fresh lemon juice and vanilla extract in a bowl. Beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Sift flour and salt into the butter mixture and stir to fully combine the ingredients. Use your hands to pack the dough together into two balls, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  3. After the dough chills, place it on a floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to ½-inch thickness. Sprinkle the dough with the chopped pistachios and chopped dried cranberries and use a rolling pin to press them into the dough. Stamp the dough with your desired cookie-cutter shape and transfer to baking sheet.
  4. Bake the cookies at 350°F for 9-10 minutes, watching the color of the cookies closely, until they just start to turn a light golden color. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest for 2–3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.