Orange Shortbread with Cranberry Champagne Buttercream It’s cookie season! Baking cookies, sharing with friends and family is one of my favorite things to do this time of the year. I first developed this recipe for the magazine Bake...
Orange Shortbread with Cranberry Champagne Buttercream
It’s cookie season! Baking cookies, sharing with friends and family is one of my favorite things to do this time of the year. I first developed this recipe for the magazine Bake from Scratch in 2019. I loved these cookies then and loved it now as well.
Oranges are one of my go-to ingredients to add to baked goods in the winter. The zest of oranges has a ton of flavor, and adds a wonderful flavor profile to the cookie. Here are some of my cookies that have orange in them.
Orange Zest and Cardamom Sugar Cookie
Orange Pink Peppercorn Shortbread with Pistachio Buttercream
Blood Orange Ganache Stuffed Cookie with Dark Chocolate
The inspiration for this cookie is cranberry mimosas. It is the holidays, and the best way to celebrate during this time is with champagne or sparkling wine. Cranberry and orange are a match made in heaven, and keeping that in mind, the Orange Shortbread with Cranberry Champagne Buttercream was born!
The first step in this cookie is to reduce the champagne so that it can be added to the buttercream.
How to reduce champagne for the buttercream? (Adding Champagne to the buttercream is totally optional!)
The champagne is heated in a saucepan on medium high heat, and brought to a boil. Once it starts boiling, you want to reduce the temperature to medium and boil until it is reduced to ¼ the quantity. The champagne will have a concentrated flavor.
You can use this champagne to make the buttercream.
How to make cranberry jam?
Cranberry jam is really easy to make. It comes together in about 10 minutes. It has fresh cranberries, orange juice and granulated sugar as the main ingredients.
You can even use frozen cranberries in this recipe. The ingredients are cooked in a saucepan, until the cranberries are tender. They are mushed with a masher and cooked down until the water content is reduced to a minimal amount. The jam thickens as it cools as well.
Cranberry Champagne Buttercream:
The reduced champagne and the cranberry jam is added to a vanilla buttercream base to make a delicious, tart and sweet buttercream.
Ingredients of the orange shortbread:
The ingredients of the orange shortbread are:
Unsalted butter: I almost always use unsalted butter in cookies, so that I can control the amount of salt in the cookie. Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar is used in this cookie, giving it that slight crunch on the outside of the cookie. It also contributes to the color of the cookie as well. Orange zest: adds a bright citrusy flavor to the cookie. All purpose flour Almond flour: I love adding almond flour to baked goods for that nutty flavor. It also adds texture to the cookie. Finally salt!I use these cookie cutters that I get from Amazon for the recipe. I use the 2 inch fluted cookie cutter.
You can skip the last step of the cranberry drizzle if you do not want to go the extra mile of decorating the cookie. But personally I love a well decorated cookie to add pizzazz! Especially during the holidays.
I add a cranberry drizzle to this cookie, along with some sparkles for that festive touch. These cookies can even be made for New Year’s Eve along with the cranberry mimosas to bring in the New Year!
These cookies package beautifully as well, and can be shipped across the country. Be sure to pack it such that the cookies do not move in the box. I add parchment paper to the box, to avoid the cookie shifting.
They can be stored in the refrigerator until you are ready to ship them.
If you do make these cookies, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on this blog post.
Have a wonderful holiday season! Happy Holidays!
XO
Amisha
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