Friday, November 20, 2009

Amazing Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies



I worked for many years at the local Hallmark. We carried a lot of different kinds of things there, including a small food collection. Oh, we carried a lot of candy, but that’s another story! We carried some locally made foods and a couple of mixes made by local companies. Now, I started baking when I worked at Hallmark, and I’ve always made things primarily from scratch. For some reason, one day I had picked up the package mix for cranberry oatmeal cookies.

You added butter and probably butter to the mix to make the cookies, and these cookies ended up being really incredible. They were buttery and just had a great flavor. Every since that time, I’ve been looking for a recipe that would be similar to that mix. I came across this recipe on my chat list, when someone had asked about cookies to bring to a cookie exchange. I thought that it might be close to those cookies from the mix. They had some additional ingredients, but I figured that would just make them better.



These are excellent! I did toast the coconut and the pecans to add to the depth of the flavors. They don’t exactly taste like the ones from the mix, but they are pretty close. I think you could adjust the ingredients based on what you have handy. I had all of the ingredients but my cupboard is now bare of dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. I need to stock up before the holidays!

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup coconut flakes, toasted
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped, toasted

Preheat oven to 325°F and line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat butter and sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, corn syrup, and vanilla. Beat until combined.

With the mixer running, mix in the flour, salt, and baking soda, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. With a large spatula, stir in the coconut, white chocolate, cranberries, oatmeal, and pecans. Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until edges are golden and top of the cookie is dry but still soft.
Let cool on baking sheet for a minute or two, and then move to a wire rack to cool completely

Recipe from Books ‘N Cooks, who got the recipe from Fine Cooking

2 comments:

Liz Anderson said...

Incredibly tasty and not too sweet -- one of the few cookies I have nibbled on and still gotten some of the "goodies" embedded in the batter with each bite!

Anonymous said...

Glad you liked them! These are a holiday favorite around my house. :-)