Taste OF Home Frosted Cranberry drop cookies

It’s been a while! Life has been busy and full of ups and downs the past couple years! My husband Jim was deployed to Afghanistan and got back just over a year ago. So with Jim being away and then returning we spent much of the time after he returned traveling and visiting family and friends we have finally started to settle down and get back into our normal routines.

We recently spent a few days in Cape Cod Massachusetts with friends. We went to Provincetown and did some shopping and dined at a terrific Italian restaurant on the water, visited the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. While we were there we purchased 3 pounds of fresh cranberries right from the bog. When we got home I could not wait to do some baking with all the cranberries. This cookie recipe is a new holiday favorite, I’m already planning to make them again! I shared them with some of our neighbors and they loved them as much as we did!

I made just a couple very small changes to the frosting recipe and you will see those notes in the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of butter softened
1 cup of sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large 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 fresh cranberries, chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 Tablespoons hot water…..for this I used fresh squeezed orange juice (not warmed) I also added some of the zest from the orange.

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl cream butter and sugars. Add milk, egg and orange juice, mix well.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and add into the creamed creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in cranberries and nuts.

Drop by Tablespoons 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

For the frosting-
Heat the butter in a saucepan over low heat until golden brown , about 5 minutes. Cool for a couple minutes and transfer to a bowl. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Beat in the hot water or in my case fresh sneezed orange juice 1 Tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency. I kept my frosting on the thicker side.
Frost the cookies and enjoy!