This recipe is part of my annual holiday cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. Every year since 2013, I work on a handful of new cookie recipes and publish the 10 best ones for readers to enjoy. It’s the biggest, tastiest event of the year on my website! These are my Cranberry Spice Cookies with Eggnog Icing!
What are Cranberry Spice Cookies?
Today’s cranberry spice cookies are a spiced cranberry version of snowball cookies. Like little drops of Christmas cookie heaven, they combine cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and dried cranberries with buttery shortbread-like cookie dough. We’ll cover the teeny cookies with sweet and creamy eggnog glaze, a combination of confectioners’ sugar, real eggnog, vanilla, and cinnamon. Honestly the cookies don’t even need icing on top, but I couldn’t resist a little eggnog addition here!
Here’s Why You’ll Love These
1 bowl recipe Brilliant & festive spice flavor 9 simple ingredients in the dough Only 30 minutes chill time Bite-sized & adorable Crumbly & soft Topped with creamy icing
And bonus: If you skip the eggnog icing, the cookies are totally egg-free! If you’re interested, see below for some icing alternatives, too. 🙂
How to Make Cranberry Spice Cookies
Adapted from my snowball cookies and pistachio cookies, these cranberry spice cookies have the same shortbread-like crumbly texture, while remaining extra soft and buttery. Consider these and my peppermint snowball cookies the holiday versions of lemon coconut shortbread cookies. All of these linked cookie recipes are similar. Before you even begin making the dough, chop dried cranberries into itty bitty pieces. These cookies are small and we want to make sure there are a lot of cranberries in each bite. The smaller, the better. Dried cranberries are a little sticky, so be patient and use a very sharp knife. Then start the prep: Note: The cookie dough will seem dry, but keep mixing because it will eventually combine. The dough is still a little crumbly, but will easily roll into balls after the 30 minutes of chilling.
Eggnog Icing
These cranberry spice cookies taste great on their own, but taste even better with a little icing. You need eggnog (I just use store-bought), confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Whisk together, taste, then add a pinch of salt if desired. You can add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken the icing or more eggnog to thin it out. It’s creamy, sweet, and tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. (It really does!) If you’re not a fan of eggnog, I have other options for you:
Brown Butter Icing from my Pistachio Cookies Vanilla Icing Orange Icing from my Cranberry Orange Scones Coat in confectioners’ sugar like regular Snowball Cookies Maple Icing from my Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
Or if you can’t get enough eggnog, try these spiced eggnog oatmeal cream pies next. These have a way of NOT making it out of the kitchen. Should any survive to land on your holiday cookie platters, I know they’ll be equally loved. The cookies are uniquely tasty, plus the ingredient list is short and the preparation is simple. Christmas cookie success! This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Peppermint Snowballs Brown Sugar Stamped Cookies Peanut Butter Blossoms Cranberry Orange Icebox Cookies
For more holiday dessert inspiration, see my full list of 75+ Christmas cookies.
