This is a wonderful recipe from Sugar Spice and Spilled Milk. These cookies were taken from a cookbook, which was used from a prize package received from Shannon at Cozy Home Scenes just before Christmas. Here is the recipe (along with others!):
Shannon hosted a Gingerbread Party during December, and I shared my Gingerbread men cookies, bread basket liner, and aprons at her party. I was one of the lucky prize winners from the Gingerbread Party, and my prize package contained a Christmas Cookies cookbook, a Gingerbread oven mitt, and a Gingerbread spatula. The day the package arrived in the mail my granddaughter Ginger happened to be at my house visiting, so she was excited to help me open my goodies.
I couldn’t wait to start using the cookbook. The title of the book is Christmas Cookies, and it has some beautiful traditional cookies for the Christmas season. Like these Christmas Stocking Cookies . . .
. . . and these Reindeer Cookies.
But some of the cookies in the cookbook can be enjoyed at any time of year, like the Fruit Cookies that I made today. The cookies are made with dried fruit – both cranberries and blueberries – and they’re topped with pine nuts for a delicate crunch. In the cookbook the cookies are called Blueberry, Cranberry, and Cinnamon Cookies, but because I love a simplified recipe title, I am renaming them “Fruit Cookies”.
Fruit Cookies Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened scant 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup dried blueberries 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup pine nuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk and vanilla; beat until well combined. Sift the flour, cinnamon, and salt together; add to the butter mixture. Add the blueberries and cranberries; stir all until thoroughly combined.
Place the pine nuts in a shallow dish. Scoop up a tablespoon of the cookie dough, roll into a ball, then roll the ball in the pine nuts to coat. Place on the prepared pan, spaced well apart and flatten slightly. Bake in preheated oven for 10 -15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 – 10 minutes, then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling.
You’ll need dried cranberries, blueberries and pine nuts for these cookies.
Roll the balls of cookie dough in the chopped pine nuts before baking.
Place the cookie dough balls on parchment paper and flatten slightly.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes.
These cookies are a real treat. They would be a wonderful addition to a Christmas cookie tray, but they are also a fruity warm treat on a cold day. Enjoy!
~ Anita Stafford ~