Cranberry Almond Cookies {Recipe}

To be completely honest with you, cookies are not my forte. I think they take a lot more work than a cake, for example, because they have to be attended to individually. Every year, I leave baking the Christmas cookies to my mom and sister. This year with so many things being different in my life (the new house and baby), I wanted try baking some cookies. Why not? It turns out it's easier than I thought. And what's better than sharing delicious baked goodies with some friends over cup of tea? Christmas Cookie Exchange Party idea was born. I send out some invites, baked a few different kinds of cookies and the girls night was a success. Since then, I had couple requests for this recipe and only now have gotten a chance to post it. Here it is. Nice and simple for ya gals! 

(The recipe is adopted from here with a few of my changes)

Ingredients:  

½ cup unsalted butter, room temp. 

½ cup  sugar 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

pinch of nutmeg 

big pinch fine sea salt

1 large egg

1¼ cup flour 

½ cup dried cranberries 

½  cup sliced almonds

Process: 

Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, ~2 minutes

Beat in the egg and vanilla.  

Finally chop the cranberries with a very sharp knife (they will stick to it)

Combine flour and salt (omit salt if you don't want any saltiness in your cookies). Toss a tablespoon or so in with the fruit and nuts and toss around. 

Gradually add the rest of the mixture to the wet mixture.  Fold in the cranberries, and almonds. Turn mixture out onto a sheet of foil and form into a log.  

Twist ends together and put into freezer for an hour, or in refrigerator for 3 hours. You can leave the dough over night and finish baking the next day

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Line baking sheets w/ parchment, cut the dough into ¼" slices (mine were a little thick) and place at least an inch and a half or so apart on the lined sheets.  

Bake for ~12 minutes, or until they just start to turn golden around the edges depending on your oven.

Enjoy!