Cranberry-Almond Wedges

It's official. The weather in Iowa has changed and we're entering the brrrrr chilly winter ahead. With that said, what a great excuse to fire up the oven and start the holiday baking! It's never a bad time to share yummy baked goods with coworkers so I decided to do just that when I got the baking itch. Plus, dried cranberries are always something we have on hand for an easy snack.



Ingredients:

• 1 17.5ounce package Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (some people scoff at the idea of using cake and cookie mixes. I beg to differ. You can create plenty of great things with them!)


• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract


• 1/2 cup butter or margarine


• 1 cup dried cranberries


• 1 tablespoon milk


• 3/4 cup sliced almonds


• sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9" round cake pans with foil, extending the foil over the pan edges. Set aside.


• Place sugar cookie mix in a bowl. Sprinkle almond extract over mix. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in dried cranberries (dough will be crumbly). Divide mixture between the two pans. Press mixtrue firmly onto bottoms of pans. Brush tops lightly with milk. Top with almonds. Sprinkle with sugar (I used red and green sugar on one, regular sugar on another).


• Bake in the preheaded oven for 18-20 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks. Using the edges of the foil, lift cooki rounds out of the pans. Cut each round into wedges.

Here is what they looked like while cooling. The red/green sugar is cute, but a little busy.

Which I suppose is okay, considering Mr. Rookie Chef dropped that one. What is it about these pans that automatically make them end up on the floor?

Anyway, these turned out great! The flavors were basically an almond based sugar cookie with some great texture from the almond slices and a nice tang from the dried cherries. Add these to your holiday baking list for sure.

Source: Betty Crocker