Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookies are really pretty and great for holiday platters. They taste amazing and don’t need glaze or decorator sugar to be impressive.
Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookie Recipe
This cookie recipe requires a little planning because of chill times. Be sure you plan ahead when making these lovely spiral cookies.
Ingredients you will need:
- Dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt
- Wet ingredients: unsalted butter, sugar, egg, orange zest, vanilla extract
- Filling: dried cranberries, chopped pecans, orange marmalade
Helpful baking tools:
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Baking Tips:
- Chop your filling ingredients small. This will ensure nothing pokes or cuts through the dough.
- Slivered almonds cut into small pieces make a nice substitute for the pecans.
- Use the parchment to help you roll the dough.
- Softened butter means you should take it out of the fridge about 20 minutes before using it. You don’t want it too soft.
- For best baking results, bring the eggs out at the same time as the butter.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookies
You won’t be preheating the oven right away because this dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for several hours first.
To make the cookie dough:
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes (mixer at medium speed). Add egg and beat well. Beat in orange zest and vanilla.
- Scrape down sides of bowl. On low speed or with wooden spoon, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just blended.
- Shape the dough into a flat rectangle. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
- Using confectioner’s sugar or flour, lightly dust a piece of parchment paper and rolling pin.
- Unwrap chilled dough and place on parchment, roll into a 12×9 inch rectangle of uniform thickness.
To Make the Cranberry Orange Filling:
- First make sure all the filling ingredients have been chopped small.
- In a bowl, combine the cranberries, pecans and orange marmalade until well blended.
- Spread cranberry mixture evenly over dough to within 1/2 inch of edges.
- Starting with long edge, tightly roll up dough jelly-roll style to form a log. Tightly wrap in parchment paper and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
To Bake your Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the chilled dough log and using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4 inch slices.
- Place on prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time in preheated oven for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges start to turn lightly golden.
- Immediately slide the parchment paper onto a cooling rack. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes before removing from the parchment and placing directly on cooling rack.
If you have an aversion to marmalade, you will probably still love these cookies. There are different types of marmalade too, some less bitter than others. Enjoy!
More Cookie Recipes
Cranberry Orange Spiral Cookies
This cookie recipe requires a little planning because of chill times. Be sure you plan ahead when making these lovely spiral cookies.
IMPORTANT - There are often Frequently Asked Questions within the blog post that you may find helpful. Simply scroll back up to read them!
Print It Rate ItServings: 32 cookies
5 hours 11 minutes
Calories: 130
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 2 â…“ cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp grated orange zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling:
- â…” cup finely chopped dried cranberries
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup orange marmalade
Things You'll Need
Before You Begin
- Chop your filling ingredients small. This will ensure nothing pokes or cuts through the dough.
- Slivered almonds cut into small pieces make a nice substitute for the pecans.
- Use the parchment to help you roll the dough.
- Softened butter means you should take it out of the fridge about 20 minutes before using it. You don't want it too soft.
- For best baking results, bring the eggs out at the same time as the butter.
Instructions
Cookies:
- In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes (mixer at medium speed). Add egg and beat well. Beat in orange zest and vanilla. Scrape down sides of bowl. On low speed or with wooden spoon, gradually add flour mixture, beating until just blended.
- Shape the dough into a flat rectangle. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
- Using confectioner’s sugar or flour, lightly dust a piece of parchment paper and rolling pin. Unwrap chilled dough and place on parchment, roll into a 12×9 inch rectangle of uniform thickness.
Filling:
- In a bowl, combine the cranberries, pecans and orange marmalade until well blended. Spread cranberry mixture evenly over dough to within 1/2 inch of edges. Starting with long edge, tightly roll up dough jelly-roll style to form a log. Tightly wrap in parchment paper and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
Baking:
- Preheat oven to 375 F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the chilled dough log and using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place on prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time in preheated oven for 8 to 11 minutes or until edges start to turn lightly golden (mine were 9 minutes). Immediately slide parchment paper onto a cooling rack. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes before removing from the parchment and placing directly on cooling rack.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 130cal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 29mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 146IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg
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This recipe is from a cookbook in my collection called 400 Sensational Cookies
Amanda Davis
President at Amanda's Creative Studio, Inc.
Amanda Davis is the entrepreneurial mom of four grown children and four step children. She and her husband, Chef Antoine, love to cook together creating recipes for this blog. Amanda also make kid's crafts and creates decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years. She is also a craft book author five times over and product developer as well as the owner of FunFamilyCrafts.com. You can find her on social media by using the buttons to the left!
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Sophie says
I so love these festive spiral cookies! They look georgously delicious!!
Amber Marie says
These look very pretty! They would be neat on lollipop sticks as cookie pops!
Debbie says
I'm adding these to my cookie list for Christmas. They look and sound wonderful…impressive too!
biz319 says
These look amazing!! Happy Thanksgiving to you!!
Tia says
I think these would look great in a holiday cookie gift box!
Beth says
I made these today and they taste super yummy and made the house smell great (I was also making my Cranberry Zinfandel sauce in the slow cooker so double yummy smells!) Thanks for the great recipe!
Maria says
Gorgeous cookies! I love them! Happy Thanksgiving my friend!
Federica says
che belle queste girelle!! davvero sfiziose!! ciao!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake says
These pinwheels look brilliant. That's a very comprehensive photo guide how to make them too. Thank you!
Amanda says
Thanks everyone!
Nanny, I don't think so. I think that if you used fresh cranberries, the baking would create too much juice and it would ruin the cookie. I thought about it myself because of my freezer stock pile of cranberries I hoarded this year LOL
Marie says
Amanda, those are beautiful!!! Well done!
Cakelaw says
These cookies look devine – yum!!!
Nutmeg Nanny says
These look great! Do you think fresh cranberries would work in this recipe?
Ingrid says
They are a good looking cookie! Very pretty!
~ingrid
LDH says
These cook delicious ~ cranberry and orange are so good together and it is so pretty spiraled in a cookie. Will give these a try. Thanks for posting, Amanda!
MaryBeth says
I was just looking at this recipe in a new cookie book my husband got me, I was thinking they looked delish and now I can see that they do…Great Job Amanda!
Fallon says
Those cookies look wonderful and very festive for Thanksgiving!
Mags says
Great looking recipe. Thanks for the extra tips too!
Heather says
I love fancy looking cookies, particularly if they are easy to make. Would like to try these.
comfycook says
These look amazing, Amanda. The cranberry is a great filling and makes the cookie even prettier.