Apple Cranberry Walnut Swirl Cookies

5 from 1 vote

Apple Cranberry Walnut Swirl Cookies

These cookies are a little tricky to roll. You need to roll out the dough on something that you can lift the one side to help you roll the dough. This also has a 2 hour chill time before rolling. After I rolled it I left it in the refrigerator overnight before slicing and baking.

Prep Time30

Total Bake Time26

Chill10

Total Time10 56

Course: Cookies, Holiday, Nuts

Cuisine: American

Difficulty: Medium

Servings: cookies

Calories: 258kcal

Ingredients

APPLE CRANBERRY JAM

1 (1) Granny Smith apple
1 cup (100 g) Fresh cranberries
1 ¼ cup (250 g) Sugar white
¼ cup (59.15 g) Water
1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Holiday spice blend*
1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Lemon juice
1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Lemon zest

COOKIE DOUGH

1 cup (227 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
4 oz (113.4 g) Cream Cheese softened
1 ½ cups (300 g) Sugar white
2 (2) Eggs
½ tablespoon (0.5 tablespoon) Apple juice
1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Vanilla Extract
3 cups (375 g) All-purpose flour
½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) Kosher Salt
1 ¼ teaspoon (1.25 teaspoon) Baking powder
½ cup (58.5 g) Chopped walnuts Handful sprinkled on top of the jam before rolling

Instructions

APPLE CRANBERRY HOMEMADE JAM

Peel and dice the Granny smith apple. Zest and juice 1 lemon into 2 bowls and set aside.
In a medium-size saucepan, add the cranberries, diced apple pieces, water, and sugar, bringing the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Don't worry about the size of the whole cranberries. They will pop open and become small. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes until the cranberries open, and the apple pieces soften. Next, add the lemon zest and juice plus the holiday spice blend. Stir and cook until it starts to thicken and become syrupy. Transfer to glass containers to cool. This recipe for the jam will make 2 batches of these cookies.

COOKIE DOUGH

Weigh or measure the sugar into a bowl and set it aside. Weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, and salt, running a whisk to blend. In a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and the cream cheese on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and blend for another two minutes on medium speed. I scrape down the sides and across the bottom and mix for another 30 seconds. Add the vanilla extract and apple juice. Add one egg at a time until incorporated. Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add the flour mixture.
On a floured pastry sheet, transfer the cookie dough and mix by hand to ensure all the cookie dough ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be tacky, so add flour if needed to shape the dough. Divide in half, and shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Place one of the wrapped cookie dough rectangles onto a well-floured pastry sheet. It helps if you have something under your rolled-out dough so that after you add the filling, you can roll it into a log shape. Rolling the cookie dough on something other than your countertop would be best. Take your Apple Cranberry Homemade Jam and spread it onto the rolled-out cookie dough. I take a handful of chopped walnuts and sprinkle them on top of the jam.
Start rolling and lifting the pastry sheet to help it roll until you get to the end. Next, I tear off a piece of plastic wrap and put it under the edge of the log so that I can roll the log onto the wrap. Then I finish wrapping the log and shape it a little better. I have two paper towel center tubes that I have cut in half length-wise. I put two halves together and put a log on them. Since there are 2 logs, I needed two center paper towel tubes. Set the logs on a pan and put them into the refrigerator overnight.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and line your cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Take one of the cookie logs out of the refrigerator and slice it into about ½ inch slices. Line the cookies about 2" apart (I get 12 to a pan) and bake for 13 - 15 minutes. You don't want any shiny dough on the top. Take them out of the oven, leaving them on the pan for 2-4 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Notes

* The holiday blend I used was the Cinnamon Plus by Pampered Chef. You can make your own, depending on what spices you add together. Usually, it is cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and more. It does not have to be all them, just what you like. Pampered Chef added orange peel in theirs, and that sounded good to me. I just had to try it...

I was going to put a link to the spice, but it is only available during the holiday baking season.

Nutrition