Add these beauties to your holiday baking list
There is something so nostalgic about baking cookies during the holidays. Though I didn’t start baking well into adulthood (there was a rock hard chocolate chip cookie incident in my teens I will never live down), cookies were ubiquitous with the holidays. Chocolate chip, classic shortbread, whipped brown sugar shortbread, molasses, sugar; my mom made them all. There were literal tins full of cookies each Christmas. It was a kid’s dream come true.
While the classics will always have a special place on the holiday table, each year I strive to come up with a new favourite. Last year it was dark chocolate and orange rye shortbread, rum balls and a whole wheat sugar cookie perfect for little hands to decorate. This season, I was inspired by those deliciously addictive fruit and nut filled Raincoast Crisps, specifically the cranberry fennel variety.
The playful balance of sweet dried cranberries and savoury fennel seeds worked just as beautifully as a shortbread cookie, the pops of fennel adding just enough licorice flavour without over- whelming the cookie. When dipped in rich dark chocolate, these cookies may just become an instant classic.
While some shortbread recipes are more labour or time intensive, this one is ridiculously easy. There’s no chilling required and the dough is soft enough that even a rolling pin isn’t required. That’s mere minutes standing between you and your new favourite holiday cookie.
Dark Chocolate, Cranberry and Fennel Shortbread
Makes about three dozen.
1 cup salted butter, room temperature
2 cups flour
1⁄ cup icing sugar
2
1⁄ cup cornstarch
4
1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds 5 oz dark chocolate, melted Preheat oven to 325F.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) beat the butter until soft and light in colour. Sift together the flour, sugar and cornstarch. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the mixer, mixing on low. Add in the cranberries and fennel and mix just until a dough forms. On a lightly floured surface, press or roll the dough to about 1⁄3” thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Bake cookies on a cookie sheet 10-12 minutes, before they start to brown. Let cool on a wire rack. When cool, dip in chocolate.
Note: For more intricate shaped cookies, place the shaped dough in the freezer for a few minutes so the shapes are maintained when cooking. Cook time may increase by a minute.