Cranberry Sugar Cookies with Vanilla-Almond Glaze
Super soft cranberry sugar cookies topped with an irresistible vanilla-almond glaze that give them a donut-like vibe. Quick swap for King Arthur's Gluten Free flour makes this an easy gluten free cookies recipe!
Equipment
- 3QT Saucepan
- LG Mixing bowl **or stand mixer
- MD Mixing bowl
- 2 Baking sheets
Ingredients
For sugar cookies:
- 6 oz Crazins
- 1/2 c Water
- 1/2 c Crisco
- 3/4 c Granulated sugar **plus more for rolling
- 1 LG Egg
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Almond extract
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1.75 c All purpose flour **or King Arthur's GF flour
For Vanilla-Almond Glaze
- 2 c Powdered sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Almond extract
- 3 tbsp Water **or until glue-like texture
Instructions
For cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Prepare two baking sheets by spraying lightly with non-stick spray.
- Combine Crazins and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook until all liquid has been absorbed.
- In a stand mixer, combine: sugar, Crisco, egg, vanilla extract and almond extract. Beat until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking soda together.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and Crazins to the Crisco mixture in the stand mixer.
- Mix well.
- Shape into small balls (1.25oz scoop) and roll in extra sugar to coat.
- Place at least two inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes or until edges are SLIGHTLY browned.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before glazing.
For glaze:
- While cookies are baking, mix together ingredients for the glaze in a measuring cup with a pour spout.
- The glaze should have a glue-like texture. Should be easy to pour at a slow rate. Add more or less water until you get the optimal texture.
- After cookies have rested for 5 minutes on baking sheet, pour glaze over center of each cookie allowing to self-spread across cookie.
- When finished, remove cookies and place on cooling rack.
- Rinse cooking sheets with hot water as soon as possible for easiest clean up.
- Once glaze has fully set you may store cookies in an air tight container at room temperature for up to a week.
Notes
**You may also glaze the cookies on the cooling rack with parchment paper underneath to catch drippings. I just find it easier to clean up when glazing on the cookie sheet directly and rinsing right afterwards. Cookies are also quite soft and glazing on rack may cause them to crack.
**You may also use parchment paper on baking sheet (spray paper with non-stick spray) for even easier clean up!
**To make these cranberry sugar cookies into easy gluten free cookies, simply swap the all purpose flour for King Arthur's Measure for Measure Flour.
**To reduce the sweetness of these cookies, you may omit the glaze completely. They will still be just as soft and delicious!