Almond Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

If you are starting on a journey to bake gluten-free cookies, then this almond cranberry shortbread cookies recipe is a great choice to help you get your feet wet. By the way, these cookies are egg-free too!

The dough is one of the easiest, you can simply stir everything together, and you will end up with a batch of tender and buttery cookies.

These are great not only during the holiday season but when they are this easy to bake, you may end up baking these all year round. :)

Ingredients for almond cranberry shortbread cookies

For about 18-24 cookies, you will need:

• 1 cup (100 gram) almond flour
• 3 tablespoon (45 gram) unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
• 3 tablespoon (20 gram) confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

If your dried cranberries look really dry, you can do a quick soak in a microwave. Combine dried cranberries with 1/4 cup water (or orange juice), and microwave for 30 seconds. Then set aside for 2 minutes, and drain really really well.

Prepare cookie dough

1. Beat together everything in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer into a cohesive and workable dough. You can even simply stir everything together by hand for a couple of minutes.
2. Transfer cookie dough onto a piece of plastic saran/parchment paper, and wrap into a log of about 8" long.
3. Chill the cookie log in the fridge for at least 2 hours to firm it up.

Baking the cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Remove chilled cookie dough from the fridge, it should be very firm by now. Unwrap, and use a very sharp knife to cut the cookies into 18-24 slices.
3. Arrange cookies on the prepared baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
4. Remove cookies from the oven. Cool cookies on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try other flavors with the same basic recipe

This basic gluten-free almond shortbread cookies recipe is easy to customize.

1. Cranberry orange. This combo is always a hit during Christmas. Simply add 1 teaspoon of freshly grated orange zest to the cookie dough.
2. Cardamom pistachio. Add 1/4 cup finely chopped pistachio instead of 1/4 cup dried cranberries. And instead of vanilla extract, use 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom.
3. Chocolate and nuts. Remove 2 tablespoons of almond flour, add 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and 1/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder. Then stir in 1/4 cup of finely chopped nuts (any nut of your choice) instead of 1/4 cup dried cranberries.

You may even come up with your own favorite flavor combo and share them with me. :)

Storing the cookies

Once the cookies are completely cool, you can store these in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. This recipe yields at most 2 dozens cookies, so I highly doubt they will last even one week. :)