Dried Cranberry and Almond Cookies

I made one of the variations of these at Christmas but I have since tried a few others. The original recipe was Dried Cherry and Almond cookies but I quickly learned that my grocery store only offers one kind of dried cherries, and they are $16.99 a pound!! That is a little expensive for our budget so this time I tried dried cranberries. They were just as good and actually much easier because there was no chopping necessary. Here is the recipe for what is currently my favorite cookie!

Dried Cranberry and Almond Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
1/2 cup, plus 2 T sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds
handful of dried cranberries (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup)

Directions:
In a larger mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon and salt until fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour gradually and beat on the lowest speed until just blended. Stir in the almonds and cranberries.
Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a skinny, long log. About 12-14 inches long and about 1 to 1.5 inches diameter. Wrap in the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This dough can be made up to 3 days in advance.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut the log crosswise into 2 halves. Put one half back in the fridge so it doesn't get warm while you are making the first batch. Cut the remaining half into 1/2 inch slices. Transfer the dough slices to the baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake about 14-17 minutes, until the edges are golden, almost brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and repeat with the other half of the dough.

The original recipe had an icing that I will post the recipe for but I found that I prefer them without the icing. They are plenty sweet without the icing and I think it over powers the flavor of the actual cookie. I do not recommend using it, but to each their own.

Icing:
Put 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar in a bowl. Whisk in 1 teaspoons vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of water. Add more water as needed until the mixture becomes a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies and let them sit until the icing has hardened. Here is what the final product looks like with icing...