For the cookies:
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Zest of one orange
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. (3 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
For the glaze:
Confectioners sugar
Orange juice, fresh from the orange
Orange zest
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Put
the dried cranberries in a small bowl with hot water. Allow them to sit
for a couple of minutes. Then drain. This just plumps them up:)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, zest, baking soda, and salt.
In
the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter briefly, until creamy. Add
the sugar, and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat well
to mix. Add the vanilla, and beat briefly again. Mix in the flour
mixture and the buttermilk in batches at low speed, beginning and
ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber
spatula as needed. Add in the dried cranberries.
Drop the dough
by level tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 ½
inches between each cookie. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, for about 11
minutes per batch. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 minute;
then transfer them to a wire rack.
For the glaze, whisk together
the sifted confectioners sugar, orange juice, and zest. I just guess on
the amount. Brush or spoon the glaze onto the warm cookies. Allow
cookies to sit on the rack until the glaze is set.