Cranberry Juice Powder

Day 10 of Spicemas

Day ten of the calendar and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A packet of vibrant pink powder, with a fruity scent and tart taste!

To say I was surprised would be accurate. I was not expecting this. I’m having so much fun with this daily journey, as I’m taking paths I didn’t know existed at this point, but now that I know… well. This could be dangerous. To my budget.

I was only flummoxed for a moment, and then my brain spun off into the myriad of possibilities, from frosting coloring to cocktails to… cookies. I decided that ‘tis the season for cookies, and I was wanting shortcake, these would make that very interesting indeed.

So! as I stood there looking into my baking cabinet, I realized I could take a classic flavor combination and give it a gentle twist.

Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies

• 2 c almond flour

• 2/3 c powder sugar or Swerve sweetener

• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum

• 1/2 tsp salt (unless the butter is salted)

• 6 tbsp butter

• 2 tsp cranberry juice powder

• 2 tsp dried orange peel (finely chopped)

for the optional chocolate dip:

• 2 oz 100% chocolate (unsweetened baking chocolate)

• 1 tsp coconut oil

• 1/4 tsp espresso powder

Your butter should stay refrigerated until you are ready to add it. I highly recommend a food processor with blade for this, but you could do it with a pastry blender and a lot of elbow grease. Harness a teen if you have one handy.

First, add all the dry ingredients and mix them together.

Wow that is pink!

Slowly add the butter, in small (roughly 1/2 tbsp by the stick) pieces while you pulse the processor, or cut it in with the pastry blender. Once it is all in, blend until a very stiff dough ball forms.

Carefully roll this into a log about 1 1/2” in diameter. I use wax paper to help, and then wrap the log in that and plastic wrap it tightly. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, up to a couple of days.

Preheat the oven to 300F.

Take the log of dough out, and cut it into roughly 1/4” thick slices.

Place these on a parchment paper sheet or silpat for baking on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until they are just a teeny bit browned at the base. They will feel soft to the touch, but not sticky. Take them out and slide onto a rack to cool. They will get crisp after cooling.

If you’d like to further gild the lily, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave for about one minute, then stir in the expresso powder (which is optional). Dip one edge of your cookie, or simply spoon a little on top of the cookies. Allow to cool and harden - putting them into the refrigerator will accelerate the process! I set mine right back down on the parchment paper I’d used for baking and that worked well.

These are really nice, crunchy but not tough, a hit of fruitiness without being aggressively cranberry-tart, the orange is very subtle. The chocolate enhanced the cookie and I’m glad I did that, too.

The way I cut my cookies, I wound up with 30 cookies. These will freeze well before or after baking if you want to get a head start on that.

The only problem is that now I’m going to buy cranberry juice powder so I can play with the other ideas I had (this recipe used all that was in the little packet) and probably other juice powders as well! So many things I can do with it!