Cranberry, Walnut, & Orange Cookies with Orange Sugar Glaze

That saying, you know that saying… the way to one’s heart is through their stomach – SO TRUE!  Not that I ever doubted it.  We were working pretty hard at work this week and I had some really great support from some coworkers.  Our facility typically doesn’t work Fridays, but a small group of us had to come in to get some of the project done.  Needless to say, Thursday night I felt like baking up a storm to give a small thank you to a handful of folks that put in a LOT of hard work.  Brought in an entire brunch for them actually – a breakfast casserole (which I’ll post later), a fruit salad, lots of juice, and of course.. COOKIES!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Butter, Softened
• 1 Cup White Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Orange Zest, grated
• 2 Tbsp Orange Juice
• 2 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 2 Cups Cranberries, Chopped
• 1/2 Cup Walnuts, Chopped
• 1/2 tsp Orange Zest, Grated
• 3 Tbsp Orange Juice
• 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Instructions – Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. In medium-high speed, blend together the butter and both sugars until smooth & creamy.
3. In the same bowl, mix in the egg until well blended then add in 1 tsp Orange Zest and 2 Tbsp Orange Juice.. keep blending away.  Smells citrus-ly amazing at this point, right?
4. In a different bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add into cream mixture and use the cookie attachment and keep on mixing.
6. Once the flour is fully blended with the cream, add in the cranberries and walnuts and mix until thoroughly blended away.
7. This batch will make about 40-48 cookies… so you can do 4 baking sheets at once or in batches.
8. Place parchment paper on the baking sheet.
9. Dollop about 1 hefty Tablespoon (one cookie) onto the sheet about 2 inches apart.  These cookies spread!
10. Baking for 12-15 minutes (golden brown at the top).
11. Pull out of the oven and set aside.
12. Once they’ve cooled down a bit, place to cook on a cooling tray.

Instructions – Icing

1. Either in a bowl or a food processor, add in the orange zest, juice, and powdered sugar
2. Mix until creamy smooth (icing/glaze consistency)
3. Place the icing into a ziploc bag
4. Cut off just a small corner at the bottom and use the bag as the frosting bag.
5. Zig across the cookies after they’ve cooled off a bit to create the glaze pattern.