Cranberry or Mincemeat Stuffed Cookies
Cranberry or Mincemeat Stuffed Cookies with orange zest in the dough then stuff them with mincemeat or cranberry sauce. Perfect for the holidays.
I’ve been on a quest to find the cookie recipe that my mother-in-law used to make for the holidays. My husband and daughters loved these cookies so much. We have searched hard for the recipe but could not find it. So I took matters into my own hand…….
I tried using pie dough, but it was too flaky. My next idea was to use premade sugar cookies but those were too sweet and not soft enough. Then I found a recipe that said it came from a magazine published in 1968. That sounded about right.
I made the cookie dough for the Cranberry or Mincemeat Stuffed Cookies and it was pretty much a sugar cookie dough with orange zest. The cookie was excellent even without the filling. I had some scraps left after cutting out the rounds and baked those. This is a cookie I would definitely eat!
Since I made the cookies in August, I couldn’t find local jarred mincemeat and did not want to make it. So, Amazon to the rescue. I ordered a jar and had my first taste of mincemeat. I was pleasantly surprised. For the cranberry filling I used whole berry canned sauce.
I recommend making the dough ahead and sticking it in the fridge overnight. This dough also freezes well, so don’t hesitate to make a double batch. An easy way to make sure you are rolling to 1/8″ is to stack 2 quarters and use that as your guide. Two quarters is exactly 1/8″, which is the perfect thickness for this stuffed cookie.
If you are looking to elevate this cookie, make the cranberry and mincemeat fillings from scratch. Here is a recipe link for mincemeat and this is the recipe link for the cranberry sauce
Cranberry or Mincemeat Stuffed Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups salted butter-softened
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2-3 tbsp milk-I used almond
- 3 tsp baking powder
Cookie Filling
- mincemeat-I used store bought. See blog post for link to mincemeat recipe.
- cranberry sauce-I used canned. See blog post for link to cranberry sauce recipe.
Instructions
- Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a stand mixer. Stir in orange zest.
- In a separate bowl whisk flour and baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture alternating with the milk.
- Divide the dough in half then wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 half of the dough to an 1/8" thickness. Tip-stack 2 quarters and that is equivalent to 1/8". Using a 2 3/4" cookie cutter cut out cookies. With a butter knife, cut an x in the center of half the cut out cookies (this is the top of the cookie).
- To assemble cookies, place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling onto the bottom of each half of the cookie dough. (The cut out without the X). Top with the dough that has the X cut out. Press the edges of the cookies together and seal with a fork.
- Bake at 375' for 12 minutes.
- Makes 30 to 36 cookies.