I am the first to admit that a cranberry (non-chocolate) cookie does not get me crazy excited but these cookies are AMAZING for so many reasons.

The dough for these gems is made entirely in the food processor (read: easy). This gets the cranberries good and chopped which is part of why these cookies are so great. You don’t get a giant cranberry bite you just get consistent little, chewy cranberry specs. Rolling the dough in the raw sugar is key. One, it sweetens things up since the dough has very little sugar. Two- it gives an awesome crunchy exterior perfect for a very soft interior. Lastly- it makes these cookies so pretty!

One of the most important things about this recipe is the dough can be made in advance, frozen and baked off on the day you need fresh cookies (aka everyday). All the details on that process are below in the recipe.

Frozen dough ready to be brought back to life

Did I mention these use whole wheat flour? That cancels out the sugar coating right?

You’ll need:

• 1 cup (4.25 ounces) White Whole Wheat Flour (can substitute all-purpose)
• 1.5 cups (7 ounces) dried cranberries, packed (could sub dried cherries)
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 0.5 teaspoon almond extract (or just use all vanilla extract)
• 6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, diced
• 3 tablespoons milk (I used almond milk)
• 0.5 cup raw turbinado sugar (or course white sugar)

To Make today:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
2. Place the flour and cranberries in a food processor and process aggressively. You want it to be like each cranberry has been cut into four pieces.
3. Add sugar, baking powder and salt to food processor and pulse to combine.
4. Add vanilla extract, almond extract, butter and milk and process until a dough forms.
5. Place raw sugar in a pie dish or similar pan.
6. Scoop 1.5 tablespoons worth of dough and form into ball.       Roll around in pie dish to coat with sugar.
7. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet. Using the back of a measuring cup smoosh the cookies down a little bit to flatten (so they are half an inch thick).
8. Bake for 16 minutes (you’ll think they are under baked but they’re not). Let cool completely.

To Make in the future:

1. Place the flour and cranberries in a food processor and process aggressively. You want it to be like each cranberry has been cut into four pieces.
2. Add sugar, baking powder and salt to food processor and pulse to combine.
3. Add vanilla extract, almond extract and milk and process until a dough forms.
4. Place raw sugar in a pie dish or similar pan.
5. Scoop 1.5 tablespoons worth of dough and form into ball.       Roll around in pie dish to coat with sugar.
6. Place sugar coated cookie dough on parchment lined baking sheet or pan and place in freezer for one hour.
7. Once completely frozen, transfer dough to a Ziploc bag and keep in freezer until the day you want fresh baked cookies.
8. On the day of cookie consumption joy, grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place frozen cookie balls on baking sheet and let thaw while you’ll preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
9. Using the back of a measuring cup smoosh the cookies down a little bit to flatten (so they are half an inch thick).
10. Bake for 16 minutes (you’ll think they are under baked but they’re not). Let cool completely.

Inspired by KingArthurFlour