Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread (2024)

This buttery shortbread is filled with cranberries, pistachios and orange zest. It’s an easy slice and bake cookie is perfect for the holidays.

If you’re looking for a buttery, flavorful shortbread recipe – then this cranberry pistachio shortbread is perfect. Sometimes I find shortbread can tastes bland or boring, but not these. They have a delicious crunch without being dry, and are filled with Christmas flavors thanks to fresh orange zest, tart cranberries and pistachios.

Like all classic shortbread – there are only 3 main ingredients: butter, sugar and flour. The classic, buttery shortbread flavor comes from the obvious culprit. So you really must use 100%, real butter – no substitutions here. Because butter is rich on its own, there isn’t too much sugar in the recipe. Then we’re using just the right amount of flour. Make sure to whisk the flour first, then spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the top when measuring. Or use a weigh scale which is definitely the most accurate way to measure – I’ve included the weights in the recipe.

Note – too much flour and shortbread gets dry and flavorless. Not enough and it can fall apart or spread too thin.

Then for flavorings we’re adding in freshly grated orange zest, dried cranberries and pistachios. You’ll need to roughly chop the cranberries and pistachios first. This is important because if you don’t the cookies can fall apart if the pieces are too big.

What’s great about this shortbread recipe is that it’s a slice and bake variety. Therefore you can make the dough in advance and pop it in the fridge for up to 4 days before baking, or freeze for up to 2 months. Then thaw in the fridge overnight before baking. You’ll divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, and then form each half into a log shape about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. It’s really important to form the dough into a dense, tight log. Continue to press the dough together tightly as you form each log. You’ll wrap each log in wax paper or parchment, twist the ends and then pop it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, simply unwrap the log and slice into cookies about ¼ inch thick.

This tasty cranberry pistachio shortbread is simple, buttery, and not too sweet. If you’d like to take it up a notch, you can even dip half of each cookie in white chocolate.

I love cranberries, pistachios and orange zest as a delicious flavor combo for the holidays. And if you’re looking for more cranberry recipes, I’d recommend trying:

• Cranberry Orange Loaf
• White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies
• Cranberry Christmas Cake

Note: After receiving comments from readers that the dough was difficult to work with and too dry, I updated this recipe December 1, 2023 to adjust for this.