Weather: 27 degrees, snowing lightly
What I’m listening to: What Christmas Means to Me, Stevie Wonder
What I’m listening to: What Christmas Means to Me, Stevie Wonder
I’m an unapologetic fan of holiday cookies. I’m a sucker for big trays of cookies of all shapes, colors and sizes, needing to sample them all. It’s fun to watch as friends and neighbors and co-workers dig deep into their recipe boxes and call upon generations-old family traditions to whip up their self-proclaimed versions of what all holiday cookies should be. It’s a celebration and a competition all at once. There are the whimsical frosted cut-out cookies with sprinkles, the candy cane flecked peppermint ones, powdered sugar dusted snowballs, a rich chocolatey cookie option, buttery thumbprints filled with jam, something involving rum and nutmeg, dark molasses-laden ginger cookies with pearly white icing, and inevitably a peanut butter version always rounds out the mix.
One of my favorite classic holiday flavor combinations is cranberry and orange. This year, I combined two of my most reliable cookie recipes (Cranberry Orange Cookies and Wilderness Lodge Oatmeal Cookies) and turned them into one chewy, gooey, citrus-scented, cranberry-studded holiday cookie. These cranberry oatmeal cookies will make a beautiful and delicious addition to any cookie spread and will make wonderful food gifts, too.
Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies with Orange
Chewy, gooey cranberry orange oatmeal cookies studded with white chocolate chips.
Yields: About 2 dozen large cookies
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 350. Grease cookie sheet.
Cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla, orange zest and orange juice.
Combine the flour, salt and baking soda, oats, then stir in the white chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.
Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (I use a medium cookie scoop) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Allow space, as these cookies do spread out.
Bake 10 minutes. Cookies will be golden and crisp on edges, slightly gooey in the center. Do not over bake.
Allow to cool five minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
