Cranberry Nut Swirls

Submitted by Hey Jude

"I love the combination of cranberries and walnuts so I was happy to find this recipe in an old Taste of Home recipe collection. Prep time does not include chill time."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 3 1/2 dozen
• Serves: 42

ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1⁄2 cups flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 cup finely ground cranberries
• 1⁄2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk

directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine first four ingredients; beat until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally.
2. Combine the dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture; refrigerate at least 1 hour.
3. In a small bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts and orange peel; set aside.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10-inch square; combine brown sugar and milk; spread over the dough then sprinkle with the cranberry mixture, leaving about a 1/2-inch edge at both ends of the dough; roll up tightly, jelly-roll style.
5. Wrap with waxed paper; chill several hours or overnight.
6. Cut roll into 1/4-inch slices and place on a well-greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake at 375° for 14-15 minutes, or until edges are light brown.

Reviews

[Wiebke]

Thank you for posting this. I used dried cranberries and the swirls turned out great.

 

[brwneyedgrl]

Thanks for posting this recipe. I made 4 batches for a cookie exchange, and they were a huge hit! I increased the cranberries to 2/3 cup, and reduced the temperature to 350 for 12 min to make it a softer cookie. It was very tasty and perfect for the holiday season.

 

[BBQnMama]

My neighbor and I made these last weekend and of the 4 varieties we baked these came out on top! They are absolutely delicious (sweet yet a bit tart) and easy to make - I highly recommend them! Note: we doubled the recipe and found that we only had about 1 Tbsp of orange (Clementine, actually) zest handy so substituted 1/4 tsp orange oil for remaining orange zest - came out GREAT! The dough is extremely soft so be sure it's well chilled before you try to roll it (between 2 sheets of parchment paper worked well). We also used powdered sugar instead of flour when rolling it out. Worked like a charm. Also, we stuck the dough and finished log in the freezer to chill more quickly.... when I was ready to slice the frozen log worked well with a serrated knife (the kind you would use to cut tomatoes, not the really serrated versions used for cutting bread).

 

[Karen=^..^=]

Excellent cookies! These tasted like cranberry nut bread, one of my favorite things. The only thing I changed was I rolled my dough about 12 x 12 and instead of spreading the brown sugar mixture and then sprinkling the cranberry mixture, I just combined the whole bunch and spread it on like a jam. I also needed to decrease my oven to 350 and only bake for about 10-12 minutes. Thanks for posting this...this will be on every holiday tray...every year!

 

[melting pot]

Okay, so mine practically fell apart. WHO CARES, they tasted OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! I'll definitely make them again, and be aLOT more careful when I roll it. Thanks! Oh yeah, I also froze it and sliced and baked it for 16 minutes, worked fine