Pistachio and Cranberry shortbread

These shortbread cookies disappeared as soon as they were cool enough to eat. The combination of sweet dried cranberries and pistachios were the perfect blend for this version of shortbread.
Since I love shortbread of any kind and also have a weakness for pistachios I quickly became a fan of these cookies. 

While these cookies are very easy to make, it should be noted that the dough is crumbly and you have to really push it together to shape it.  Don't be discouraged because it packs well, and after being chilled for a few hours it is easy to slice and lay on a baking sheet for the final baking stage.
Note: Make sure your butter is very soft, for a smoother dough. Mine was still a bit stiff so the crumbly dough that resulted was a little tougher to work with. Never the less it all works out into a most delicious shortbread.

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter, or vegan butter ( 8oz, or 2 sticks)
1 cup sugar ( 8 oz)
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
2 and 1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon corn starch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

Method

Beat the butter and the sugar together until it becomes creamy and light in color.   I used my food processor but you can use a hand -held mixer as well.

Keep aside the pistachios and dried cranberries.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients to a large bowl.  Using a whisk stir well so that all the ingredients are well blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the creamed butter. Turn the processor on and work the dry ingredients into the butter with short pulses. (Again you can use a hand-held mixer, a wooden spoon/ or your hands to form the dough if you do not have a food processor)

 The mixture will look crumbly. Take a teaspoon full out and squeeze it together to  form a shape. It is ready if it holds together.

Now add the nuts and fruit and mix well.

 Turn the dough out into a bowl.

Squeeze about 3 -4 portions together to roughly form a lump, If it is soft enough to from a log, do so. My dough was too crumbly so I put a portion on a large plastic wrap square and squeezed the portion into a rectangular block, which I then wrapped up. Finish up the dough by forming a roll or a block and wrapping it up tight in plastic wrap,  Put the dough into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F when you are ready to bake the cookies

When I took the dough out 3 hours later it was solid and easy to cut into 1/4 inch thick cookies. Do not try to get skinnier cookies or the dough may break. Do not be discouraged if your cookies are not perfect rounds or rectangles.

Place the cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 -12 minutes until lightly browned on the edges.  Remove and let cool. The cookie will harden as it cools.

Enjoy

This recipe was adapted from https://vegehomecooking.com/