Christmas Sandies

Tis the season for baking cookies! I always like to try new recipes - which can sometimes be dangerous if you plan on feeding them to other people. However, this round actually worked out pretty well. I obtained the original recipe here. I adapted it mildly simply by adding a little extra lemon peel and cranberries.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped dried cranberries*
2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
White, red, and green nonpareils

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend the butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in well. Stir in cranberries and lemon peel and slowly add in flour. If the mixture is crumbly simply remove from the mixing bowl and kneed it into compliance.

Shape mixture into 1/2-, 3/4-,or 1-inch balls. Roll dough balls in nonpareils. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes for about 1/2-inch balls, 13 minutes for 3/4-inch balls, or 15 minutes for 1-inch balls, or until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. Makes about one hundred forty-four 1/2-inch cookies; seventy-two 3/4-inch cookies; or thirty-six 1-inch cookies.

*Tip: Place dried cranberries in a food processor. Cover and process until finely chopped. Or finely chop cranberries by hand.