Tomorrow is the big day and I hope you are done with all your chores. I'm assuming that the list of Christmas baking recipes and the 50 Easy Eggless Christmas Cookies I posted last week should have been of some help for all the beginners and bakers on a time crunch. I couldn't resist from trying another shortbread cookie recipe given the season. So baked these tender and crispy eggless pistachio cranberry shortbread cookie recipe over the weekend that I had bookmarked from here. Even though I have tried cranberry shortbread cookies and chocolate shortbread cookies before, I couldn't ignore this one.
Pistachio and cranberries is quite a combo, both eye candy and tasty. The chewiness of the dried cranberries goes well with the crunchiness of the pistachios. The vegan cranberry pistachio biscotti recipe is yet another proof. That's why I chose to use pistachios instead of pecans that was mentioned in the original recipe and baked these cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies.
I'm so glad that I tried it because these shortbread cookies turned out awesome. They were light, tender and crispy. We couldn't taste the whole wheat flour at all. Even though whole wheat pastry flour is not as robust as regular whole wheat flour, you would still feel a mild nutty flavor when used in muffins, cakes and sometimes in cookies too. But this recipe is an exception I guess, because we didn't feel it even a bit.
You may add some white chocolate chips too to the dough and make it as white chocolate and cranberry shortbread cookies. With the pistachios, the red, white and green color will make it a perfect Christmas treat. Pistachios are quite expensive than the other nuts but the season is definitely worth the extra splurge because these cranberry pistachio shortbread cookies are to die for! The taste and texture is unbeatable!
If you tried this Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
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Recipe
Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ cups butter softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup (can be replaced with sugar as well)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (orange zest and extract can be used too)
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pistachios toasted
Substitutes:
Instructions
- Cream together the butter, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract using an electric beater. Recently baked with just butter and sugar. (Check My Notes)
- Add flour one cup at a time and the salt, mixing well after each cup is added. Do not use the beater for this, just mix it with a wooden spoon or spatula. Beating it with a hand held mixer might result it tough cookies.
- Stir in the cranberries and pistachios.
- Shape dough into two logs, each log about 10 inches long. Wrap it tightly with parchment paper or plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I chilled mine overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C for 15 minutes. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper. Cut each log into about 1 cm slices and arrange on the baking sheet(s).
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until lightly browned. I took out mine just after 18 minutes. Thicker cookies might need a minute or two more.
- Cool the sheets on a wire rack and let it be for 5 minutes. After that remove the cookies off the pan and let it cool completely on the wire rack before storing it in an air-tight container.
My Notes
- Toast the pistachios on stove top in a pan for about 5-7 minutes or in the oven, stirring once or twice in the middle so that it doesn't burn. Set it aside to cool before adding it to the dough.
- Recently I baked the cookies without the maple syrup. So used ¾th of a cup of sugar and still got the same result. Crispy pistachio cranberry shortbread cookies.
- If you prefer baking these shortbread cookies with wheat flour it has to be whole wheat pastry flour. It yields tender and crispy cookies. I'm pretty sure that the regular(hard) whole wheat flour will not be suitable for these cookies. Of course you can bake with all-purpose flour too. Gluten-free baking mix will work too.
- These shortbread cookies does not have the maple flavor. If you are a fan of maple you might want to use maple extract instead of vanilla extract. I have also tried this recipe using orange zest and orange extract. It gives a nice citrus flavor. Do try that too.
- Proceed with caution while slicing the dough. Do not use a "see-saw" motion while cutting it because the dough would start crumbling. Instead just run through the dough once with a serrated knife. Even if the dough cracks, you can still patch it up together. The cut has to be one smooth motion from top to bottom. To avoid cracks do not slice the cookies too thin.
- The number of cookies you will get depends upon how thin or thick you slice the dough. I was able to get 60 cookies when the original recipe states the yield is 30-40 cookies. The baking time of the cookies will depend upon how thin or thick you slice the cookies. So always test bake and determine the baking time before proceeding to bake the entire batch.
Nutrition
Martha Grace Ambrosio says
I made these in there absolutely delicious. An excellent recipe. My only complaint was that my cookies are a little hard so not sure whether I should have covered them when they were a little warm? I let them cool completely before storing them, maybe I shouldn't have.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for trying the recipe and for the feedback, Martha. Maybe reducing the baking time by about 2 minutes would have helped. I always test bake 3-4 cookies. See how it turns out and after about 10-15 minutes bake the rest of the cookies depending on how the test cookies taste/feel. Each oven is different so some tweaking might be necessary at times.
Ganga says
Hi,
I made this today. Substituted maida, almond nibs and honey. Crispy and light. The thing is I only baked for 8 minutes at 180°C and it's done. May I bake at 160°C for 10 minutes?
Madhuram says
Thanks for trying the recipe, Ganga. Yes, it should be fine.
Mina says
Hi MadhuramJul,
Does this recipe require any baking powder or levening agent? I am worried these cookies wii be too hard if I use all purpose four.
Thank you for your response.
Sincerely,
Mina
Madhuram says
Usually, shortbread cookies don't need any leavening agent, Mona. It will work out good with all-purpose flour too.
Connie says
Pls let me know how long to keep dough log on the counter, before I can cut it for baking. I hv refrigerated it overnight. Thanks
Madhuram says
Depending on how hard it becomes the time will vary Connie. I'm thinking about 20-30 minutes should be fine.
Elízabeth Watson says
These were a complete disaster. They completely fell apart when I sliced them and I could t put them back together. Don't know what I did wrong.
Madhuram says
Sorry about your experience, Elizabeth. I see that I have written in the Notes that if you use a see-saw motion to cut the cookies it will crumble, so instead you should just do one single cut. Not sure if you followed this. Sometimes if you cut it too thin the cookie will crumble.
Lena says
I love it! Prepared it yesterday with my boyfriend and they tasted delicious! Instead of butter I used coconut oil, as you adviced 🙂
I'm unspeakably happy that I've come across your website, definitely gonna use it from now on! So many great ideas! <3
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Lena. Thank you very much for the feedback. I'm unspeakably happy too! 😀