Cranberry Walnut Cookies

I have a weird habit.


Once a new fruit or vegetable season rolls around I spend far too much time searching my favourite websites and cookbooks for inspiration for that particular seasonal goodie. If you looked at my Epicurious recipe box, or my safari bookmarks you would see an amusing pattern forming.


Baby brussels sprouts with buttered pecans. Shaved brussels sprouts salad with fresh walnuts and pecorino. Brussels sprout slaw with mustard and maple glazed pecans. Mashed potatoes with turnips and roasted pear puree. Glazed turnips with scallions and parsley. Maple glazed turnips. Parsnip puree with sauteed brussels sprout leaves. Pear pie with maple and ginger. Vanilla roasted pears. Caramelized pears and red onion. Spinach salad with pears, cranberries, red onion and toasted hazelnuts. Cranberry guacamole. Apple cider, cranberry ginger punch. Cranberry vanilla coffee cake. Apple cranberry crisp.


See what I mean?




So I bought some cranberries at the market a few weeks ago, mostly just because they're beautiful, and as you've just learned, because I'm a sucker for new exciting produce. Sadly though I have very little experience cooking with cranberries, and quite possibly just as little experience eating them. (It's shameful, I know!)
I think it was perhaps a few days after thanksgiving, after cleaning out our fridge and discovering a lonely forgotten pie dough (shameful again, I know!) that I finally stopped using the cranberries as decoration and finally cooked with them.

I tossed them in a bowl with some sliced apples, some brown sugar, a wee bit of lemon juice, pinch of salt, and a bit of orange zest. Spread the mixture out on the pie dough, folded the edges over the fruit, and baked it until golden. Wow. So delicious.

A few nights later I was craving something sweet and made pretty much the exact same dish except in the form of a crisp, topping the fruit with oats mixed with butter and sugar. Absolutely scrumptious
(By this point we have definitely come up with our newest filling for our croissant of the week at our cafe, in case you were wondering).


So what have these two spontaneous dishes taught me? That I love cranberries, and I need to seek out more and more ways to involve them in my daily life (or until they disappear from the farmers market).
Which brings me to this cookie.
I think I would normally be skeptical of a cranberry cookie (sounds like something "trying" to be healthy...) but if you're like my newfound cranberry-lovin' self and just want a tart burst of deliciousness in your sweet cookie, than look no further. 


This recipe was adapted from Allrecipes.com


I took the advice of a reviewer on the site, and instead of using a heavy buttercream icing, made more of a thin frosting that I dipped the cookies into.


1/2 cup butter softened

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 cups chopped fresh cranberries
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

• In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add milk, egg and orange juice; mix well. In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Add cranberries and nuts and combine.

Chill the dough for about 30-60 minutes. 

Form the dough into balls, flatten slightly with your hands and place on a parchment lined sheet 2 inches apart, and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

icing sugar

vanilla

milk

I'm not going to give exact measurements...because I didn't have any.

Start with a bit of sugar in a bowl, and add a little milk (really, only a small amount is necessary) and mix well. Continue adding either sugar or milk until the desired consistency is achieved. I wanted mine to be fairly thin because I just wanted a light coating on top of the cookies. Once the texture is where you like it, add a dash of vanilla.