White Chocolate and Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

A short time ago, I blogged about the cookies that my work makes.  They are a traditional Toll House cookie with white chocolate and dried cranberries.  I decided to not make them, but rather use my shortbread recipe to my advantage.  One of the things that I noticed with my original shortbread recipe was that the texture changed depending upon which flavors I added to the dough.  For example, when I use cocoa powder, the cookies were a little too dry, so I will now only use 2 cups of flour and 1/3 cup cocoa powder.

So, I took my recipe and changed it to accommodate the white chocolate and the cranberries.  Here is what I did:

You will need:
1/3 cup dried cranberries and 1/3 cup chopped white chocolate - pulse in a food processor until broken down into very small pieces - set aside.

Then take...
2 sticks of butter at room temperature (1 cup)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.  Vanilla bean paste also works well.
1/2 teaspoon salt
...and beat these ingredients on medium until well incorporated.

Then add...
2 cups of flour and the cranberry & white chocolate to the butter mixture and mix until incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350' F
Form pieces of dough into one inch balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes and remove from the oven and let cool.

At this point, you can use melted white chocolate and dried cranberries as a garnish, royal icing, powdered sugar or simply leave plain.

These came out fabulous!!!

From the heart of my purple kitchen to you, please enjoy!!!
S.