This a real sweet/tart of a cookie! I love the idea of giving a little tang to a sweet cookie and these Sparkling Cranberry Gems really deliver. The coarsely shredded dried cranberries along with my addition of a little lemon oil extract give these cookies the perfect tart flavor component.
The cookie bakes up slightly chewy while the coarse sparkling sugar gives a nice satisfying sweet crunch. These cookies are so pretty to look at…all the little red flecks from the cranberries and the pretty sparkle of the coarse sugar coating truly make these cookies “gems”. Here is how you can make your own.
You can find the entire recipe here. I followed the recipe as shown with the addition of 1 teaspoon of lemon oil extract for some extra tartness.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat liners. Set aside.
In a food processor, coarsely shred the dried cranberries with the flour until the cranberries are in little pieces. Whisk together the cranberry/flour mixture with the sugar, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer mix the flour mixture with the vanilla, butter and my addition of 1 teaspoon of lemon oil extract for an extra tart kick. Mix until the butter is well distributed with some pea sized chunks remaining. Dribble in the milk while mixing until a dough comes together.
Place 1/2 cup coarse white sparkling sugar or raw sugar into a plastic baggie.
Using a small cookie scoop (i used a #50 scoop and made around 24 cookies), drop the dough balls a few at a time, into the baggie of sugar and shake to coat. Place the coated balls on the cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Using the bottom of a glass, gently press down each ball to approximately 1/4″ thick.
Bake the cookies for around 16 minutes until barely set and very barely beginning to brown around the edges. The tops shouldn’t be brown at all. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
