Cranberry White Chocolate Drop Cookies

I had trouble deciding which recipe I would make this week. I had one recipe in mind but I couldn’t find one of the ingredients that I needed, so that one will have to make. My husband and I picked up a couple of items at the grocery store and figured that I would find something.

My husband brought out one of the cookie cookbooks that I have, but not one that I use very often. I’m not sure why I don’t use it more, it has some great cookies in it! My husband picked out three recipes to look at. Unfortunately, one of them needed to refrigerate for several hours, and the other two were bar cookies. I’d made a lot of bar cookies lately, so I wanted something different.

I was thumbing through the book and came across this recipe. I had all the ingredients on hand and it was quite different than the cookies that I had made recently. I like cookies that have a good fruit flavor, like this one does. This recipe called for fresh cranberries, but I left those out. I had fresh cranberries, but I didn’t think that it really needed the ½ cup of fresh cranberries. After all, it had 4-1/2 cups of other bits added to it.

The recipe also included a light glaze, but I left that off. My husband kept saying that they didn’t need a glaze and after tasting one of the cookies, I agreed completely. They are a bit of a “homey” looking cookie, but they have great flavor. The butter is a strong flavor and then you can really taste the lemon. The lemon in combination with the cinnamon is excellent.

1-2/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons lemon zest

1 egg

2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1-1/2 cups chopped pecans

1-1/2 cups dried cranberries

1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer and beat until lightened. Add the brown sugar and lemon zest, mix about 2 minutes until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and then stir in the pecans, dried cranberries, and white chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until browned around the edges and set in the center. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett