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Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies

You’ve probably arrived here because you’ve got cranberry sauce left over from your big holiday meal. Let me tell you, these Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies are a delicious way to use it up.

The cookie dough is super quick to mix and bake and they come out soft and chewy with the sweet and tangy taste of cranberries.

Before we get to the actual baking, please note that this post was originally written for you to share a fun story with your little ones during the holidays. And then perhaps bake some cookies with them to create memories together.

If you’re here just for the recipe and aren’t interested in the story, please scroll down to the bottom of the post where you’ll find the recipe card that you can print off.

If you’ve got little ones, gather them around and let Lexie tell you all a story of our baking day.

 

It’s been a long time since Sue let us come visit with you! We’re the Hexie Turtles.

The Hexie Turtle wearing their chefs hats with speech bubbles to introduce themselves.

I’m Lexie. Sue made me first, so that makes me the oldest.

Lanie’s the next oldest. She’s my BFF!

Rexie is the youngest. He’s my other BFF.

Since I’m the oldest, I get to be the one to tell you about all our adventures.

We love helping Sue bake!

For Valentines’ Day we helped her make Linzer Cookies and last Christmas we made Spiced Shortbread.

This week, we made Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies and we’re going to show you how to make some too!

 

First you’re going to need the following ingredients:

  • 3 3/4 c all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c butter
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 c leftover whole berry cranberry sauce (Sue’s recipe is sooo good!)

Here’s a bowl of that leftover cranberry sauce:

Leftover cranberry sauce in a white cereal bowl with a spoon beside it.

YUMMMMYYY!!!

 

Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

Put all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

Flour and other dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

See that pink stuff? That’s Himilayan Pink Sea Salt but you can use plain old table salt if you want.

I helped stir it all together with a really big whisk.

Lexie the Hexie Turtle helping to stir dry ingredients in a mixing bowl using a wire whisk.

Sue says this makes sure that the spices, baking powder and baking soda end up in all the cookie dough, not just parts of it.

Oops!! My hat fell off!

Lexies white chefs hat fell off into the flour in the mixing bowl.

Our hats are always falling off. Sue keeps saying she’s going to add little elastics so they stay on but she’s been really busy and hasn’t gotten around to it.

We’re not allowed to do this part because we’re too little.

Put the butter in a large bowl and use a mixer to cream the butter until it’s well… creamy. 🙂

Two sticks of butter in a large mixing bowl.

The butter has been creamed in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Half cup of sugar being added to the creamed butter in a bowl.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Dave, Sue’s husband, said that Sue was mean because she was beating the butter and the eggs.

Sue just groaned and rolled her eyes. I’m not sure why… Lanie, Rexie and I thought it was pretty funny. We started giggling.

That made Sue smile and then she laughed too!

The three Hexie Turtle on a container looking down as one egg at a time is added to the cookie batter.

Lanie got to help stir in the cranberry sauce.

Lanie the Hexie Turtle helps to stir the cranberry sauce into the cookie dough batter.

See what a good job she did!

Pink and red cookie dough for the Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies after the cranberry sauce has been added.
Next, add the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time. Beat until it’s all mixed together and there are no dry places left.

Drop spoonfuls of dough 2″ apart on baking sheets lined with a silicone baking sheet (or parchment paper.)

Hexie Turtle sitting around the baking sheet while spoonfuls are dropped on a lined baking sheet.

Rexie said, “Hey, when’s my turn to help?”

Rexie was right, he hadn’t had a turn yet so Sue helped him hold the spoon to scoop the dough onto the baking sheets.

Rexie the Hexie Turtle helps to scoop dough by the spoonful onto a baking sheet.

Then Sue put the cookies in the oven and let them bake for 15 minutes.

She said to make sure to tell you that each oven is different and they can take anywhere from 15 to 18 minutes to bake. Once they are lightly golden brown around the edges.. they’re done!

We got 40 cookies out of this batch. But you might get a few more or a few less, depending on how big of scoops you make with the spoons. We used regular teaspoons from the fork and knife drawer.

We had to wait for the cookies to cool completely before we could put them in the cookie tins to freeze them.

The three Hexie Turtles waiting for the cookies to cool.

All year long, Sue checks for pretty tins at thrift stores to use to give gifts in at Christmas. She washes them in really hot water to make sure they are extra clean.

She freezes the cookies in the tins ahead of time and then when it’s time to drop off a gift, she takes one of the tins out of the freezer and ties a ribbon around it with a big bow.

We got to help fill the tins!

The three Hexie Turtles helping to put the Cranberry Cookies into cookie tins ready for gifting.

Sue also likes to put lots of cookies on a plate and wrap them in cellophane.

Leftover Cranberries Sauce Drop Cookies wrapped in snowman cellophane.

Aren’t those snowmen cute!!

And if Sue’s in a cookie exchange, she’ll take a big piece of clear cellophane and put a paper doily wrong side up on it. Then she stacks four or five cookies in the middle:

Stack the cookies in center of paper doily ready to be wrapped.

Then she gathers it all up and ties it with a string.

We tried to help Sue tie the strings but our little flippers got all tangled up!

Example of a cookie exchange package with the cookies inside cellophane wrapping and a recipe card attacked.

Five cookie exchange packages with the cookies inside cellophane wrapping and recipe cards attacked.

For cookie exchanges, she also likes to attach a recipe card.

 

This Hexie Turtle story is © 2016 Susan Flemming  All Rights Reserved.

No part of the story text or photos may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.

 

 

 

 

If you make this recipe and post about it on social media, I’ll bet Sue would love to have you tag her. She’s @supermomnocape on Instagram and @1SuperMomNoCape on Facebook and 1SuperMomNoCape on Twitter. And I know she’d also love to have you follow her!

Did you like reading about our baking adventure? Then you might like to read some of our other adventures:

The Hexie Turtle Christmas Adventure in Maui (2017)

A Hexie Turtle Christmas Eve – A Visit from Holly (2016)

The Hexie Turtles’ Snow Adventure

The Hexie Turtle’s First Cookie Baking Adventure

Teeny, Tiny Turtle Quilts

The Hexie Turtles’ Christmas Eve (2015)

A Hexie Turtle Valentine

 

 

 

Be sure to save the recipe for Leftover Cranberrry Sauce Drop Cookies for future reference by clicking on the Pinterest button underneath this post.

And of course, Sue would love it if you shared it on Facebook and Twitter too. 🙂

 

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies on a plate with tea cup and packages ready to give

 

 

 

Yield: 40

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies - Tea and cookies

Delicious chewy Leftover Cranberry Sauce Drop Cookies are a great way to use up left over cranberry sauce.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 3/4 c all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 c butter
  • 1 1/2 c sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 c leftover whole berry cranberry sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
  2. Put all the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Whisk to combine.
  3. Put the sticks of butter in a large bowl and use a mixer to cream the butter until it's a smooth, creamy texture.
  4. Add the sugar and beat until it's light and fluffy.
  5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
  6. Next, add the dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time. Beat until it's all mixed together and there are no dry places left.
  7. Drop spoonfuls of dough 2" apart on baking sheets lined with a silicone baking sheet (or parchment paper.)
  8. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden brown around the edges.
  9. Remove from oven, transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
  10. Enjoy!

Notes

The cookies can be stored in an air tight container for a couple of weeks before they'll start to go stale (trust me, they won't last that long.)

Or they can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

40

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 131Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 115mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 1gSugar: 10gProtein: 2g

Please note that nutritional calculations are approximate. If you required more precise information please perform the necessary calculations yourself.

 

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!

11 Comments

  • Lynne Hanson
    November 26, 2021 2:36 pm

    Do you happen to have this recipe written out without the photos? Would be easier to print and cook with! Many thanks…will make asap when you send!

    • Super Mom No Cape
      November 26, 2021 6:58 pm

      Hello Lynne,

      This is one of my older posts that I hadn’t had a chance to add a recipe card to yet. I’ve just now added one to the bottom of the post that you can print out.

  • Yolanda Sanchez
    December 21, 2020 12:07 am

    Best ever and so easy!! I’m going to try the recipe in a cookie press, wish me luck.

  • Elizabeth
    November 24, 2020 1:08 pm

    Aloha! I had an early Thanksgiving and had left over cranberry sauce, so I decided your recipe sounded delicious. I loved these cookies…they are so fluffy and tasted just like muffin tops, which are, in my opinion, the best part of the muffin! Thank you for a delicious recipe!!!

  • Carol
    December 29, 2019 6:22 am

    Just come to this in searching how I can use up my cranberry sauce and it sounds great! Being in the UK, I’m not used to US measurements – could you tell me if it really is a cup of butter (8oz, I think), as it seems quite a lot for a batch of biscuits?! Thanks.

    • Super Mom No Cape
      December 29, 2019 5:19 pm

      Yes, the 1 cup of butter measurement is correct. That translates to 225 g of butter if you’re using a scale.

      Hope that helps.

  • Sarah
    November 14, 2016 1:25 pm

    These sound so good! And I just happened to make a cranberry sauce for the Handmade Holidays hop… How convenient 😉

  • MA
    November 11, 2016 6:22 pm

    I do hope your little helpers got to taste test those cookies. I’m sure they were sneaking little nibbles on the cookie dough when you weren’t looking!

  • Sue LD
    November 11, 2016 4:43 pm

    Great cookie recipe for after Thanksgiving.

  • Celtic Thistle Stitches
    November 11, 2016 7:25 am

    They look delicious Sue!

  • Rachel
    November 10, 2016 11:36 am

    It certainly sounds yummy!

Comments are closed.

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