Fruit & Nut Cookies

Yaaay !!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, it's Christmas time. And It's Jingle time everywhere...........the most celebrated festival of this world...celebration of birth of Jesus Christ. And within few days we'll finish up a whole year and start a fresh new year. Time for new resolution, time for a new start of another year of living in this beautiful world but before that it's time for the joyous time of the year.
So, wishing everyone, especially to all my readers and followers, A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New year.
This post is dedicated to the last significant festival of the year, Christmas. Just like Fruit & Nut Cake, Fruit & Nut cookies are also very popular and beloved. Not only for Christmas, kids will love these cookies all year round. We love them in our family. But this time, I made these specially for Christmas to distribute among friends. I have already the traditional Fruit & nut cake, both eggless and with egg version on my blog. Anyone interested, please go thru the links posted below the recipe.

So, without much ado, here goes the recipe............

You Need : {yields 12-16 cookies}
All Purpose Flour : 1 1/2 cup
Butter(unsalted) : 3/4 cup
Sugar(white/brown) : 3/4 cup
Eggs : 2
Baking Soda : 1 tsp
Salt :1 tsp.
Milk : 3-4 tblsp.
Dried Cranberries : 1/4 cup
Dates : 1/4 cup
Mixed Nuts : 1/2 cup
Candied Orange/lemon peels : 1/4 cup
Pure Vanilla Essence : 1 tsp.

How To :

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Prepare a baking tray covered with baking sheet or just grease it well with butter and sprinkle little flour on it. Dust off the excess flour.
In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together, i.e., flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients. Take butter and whisk on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, and mix until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time until combined, lastly mix in vanilla.
Now add flour mixture in the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in cranberries, dates, nuts and orange peels. DO not use the electric beater any more, use a spatula to mix the nuts int the batter and prepare a soft dough.
Divide the dough into two portions and using a baking or parchment paper, prepare a log shaped cookie dough and refrigerate both the cookie dough for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.
When done, cut 1/2 inch round cookies from the dough and place them on prepared baking tray keeping an inch in between the cookies. Place the trays on medium rack in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.
When done, cook on wire rack. After it cool down, store them in an air-tight container.
Enjoy with tea/coffee/milk.