Orange-Scented Cranberry Walnut Cookies

I personally love chewy cookies and this Orange-Scented Cranberry Walnut Cookies was the perfect kind for my taste. The original recipe has eggs in it, but I substituted the eggs with sour cream and it worked great.

I am on the last day of this week's Kid's Delight - Cakes and Cookies theme and the last recipe that I have for this theme is Cranberry Walnut Cookies. I really wanted to bake chocolate chip and nut cookies but realized at the last moment that I had no chocolate chips at home.

So, I had to come up with some other cookie recipe as I had promised my boys that I would be baking cookies for them.

That is when I remembered this recipe from the King Arthur flour website that I had bookmarked. Cranberries are one of my favorite fruits to bake with, so I always have some dried cranberries at home to bake muffins, like these and this Whole Wheat Banana Cranberry Almond muffins.

I also use fresh cranberries to make Cranberry thokku / spiced pickle and Cranberry rice. I personally love chewy cookies and this one was a perfect kind for my taste.

The original recipe has eggs in it, but I substituted the eggs with sour cream and it worked great. Sour cream works great as an egg substitute for many baked recipes.

The best part about this cookie is the orange flavor that comes from the orange zest. It worked great with the cranberries and made the cookies very refreshing.

Preparation time - 10 minutes
Baking time - 6 to 7 minutes per batch
Difficulty level - easy
Recipe adapted from - King Arthur Flour

Ingredients to make Cranberry Walnut Cookies - Makes 24 medium cookies

• Butter (unsalted) - ½ cup (room temperature)
• Sugar - ¾ cup
• Orange zest - from one medium orange
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Sour cream - 2 tbsp
• Baking powder - ½ tsp
• salt - ½ tsp
• All-purpose flour - 1 ½ cups
• Walnuts - ⅔ cup (toasted and chopped)
• Dried Cranberries - ⅔ cup (chopped into tiny pieces)

Procedure to make Cranberry Walnut Cookies -

• Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, dried cranberries, and chopped walnut pieces. Keep it aside.

• In a large bowl or in the bowl of the mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.

• Add the sour cream, salt, baking powder, orange zest, and vanilla and mix well.

• Now add the flour mixture in batches and mix well after each addition.

• Take a heaped tablespoonful of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet leaving about 2 inches of space between the cookies.

• With a flat-bottomed glass dipped in sugar, gently press down on each dough mound to flatten it slightly. Don't flatten the cookies too much as they won't be soft and chewy. Leave them about ½ inch thick.

• Bake the cookies for about 6 to 7 minutes or just until the sides of the cookies begin to turn brown. Do not over-bake the cookies as again they will lose their soft and chewy texture. The cookies will remain very soft when you take them out of the oven.

• Let the cookies cool down for at least 5 minutes in the pan before you transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes and Observations -

• I toast the walnuts before chopping them into bite-size pieces. To toast the walnuts, layer them on a baking sheet and toast them in a 350 F oven for about 5 to 7 minutes tossing occasionally. Make sure that you keep tossing the walnuts as they could burn easily.
• I also chop the dried cranberries into tiny pieces as that way they are even; and spread out in the cookie.
• If using an egg instead of sour cream, the recipe requires one large egg.

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Recipe

Orange Scented Cranberry Walnut Cookies

I personally love chewy cookies and this Orange-Scented Cranberry Walnut Cookies was a perfect kind for my taste. The original recipe has eggs in them, but I substituted the eggs with sour cream and it worked great.

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Course: Cookies, Snack, sweets

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 7 minutes minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes minutes

Servings: 24 pieces

Calories: 121kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

• ▢
  Oven

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ Cup Butter Unsalted - (room temperature)
• ▢ ¾ Cup Sugar
• ▢ Orange zest From one medium orange
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Sour cream
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 1 ½ Cups All-purpose flour
• ▢ ⅔ Cup Walnuts Toasted and chopped
• ▢ ⅔ Cup Dried Cranberries Chopped into tiny pieces

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, dried cranberries, and chopped walnut pieces. Keep it aside.
• In a large bowl or in the bowl of the mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.
• Add the sour cream, salt, baking powder, orange zest, and vanilla and mix well.
• Now add the flour mixture in batches and mix well after each addition.
• Take a heaped tablespoonful of dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet leaving about 2 inches space between the cookies.
• With a flat bottomed glass dipped in sugar, gently press down on each dough mound to flatten it slightly. Don't flatten the cookies too much as they won't be soft and chewy. Leave them about ½ inch thick.
• Bake the cookies for about 6 to 7 minutes or just until the sides of the cookies begin to turn brown. Do not over-bake the cookies as again they will lose their soft and chewy texture. The cookies will remain very soft when you take them out of the oven.
• Let the cookies cool down for at least 5 minutes in the pan before you transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes

• I toast the walnuts before chopping it into bite-size pieces. To toast the walnuts, layer them on a baking sheet and toast them in 350 F oven for about 5 to 7 minutes tossing occasionally. Make sure that you keep tossing the walnuts as they could burn easily.
• I also chop the dried cranberries into tiny pieces as that way they are even;y spread out in the cookie.
• If using an egg instead of sour cream, the recipe requires one large egg.

Nutrition

Calories: 121kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 94mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 124IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @Sandhya.Ramakrishnan or tag #MyCookingJourney!