Cranberry Pear Cookie Cups

I love this sort of cookie cup: usually a simple dough, filled with some sort of topping. Bake anything in a mini muffin cup and it will look fantastic. They are quite easy, as you make the cookies, bake them, and then you are done. I knew that I would be a little short of time to bake this week, as I had late meetings, so these were just perfect. (I can make those other cookies I had been planning next week!)

This cookie was slightly more complex, mainly because the cookie dough was more involved. Typically, the cookie dough is butter, flour, sugar, and cream cheese. This dough also added oats and ginger, and then you had to refrigerate the dough. That worked for me as the dough took 10 minutes to put together and then I put it in the refrigerator while we ate dinner.

These cookies are easy, but it can be fussy to spread the dough into the muffin cups. They are quite forgiving, so don’t worry about trying to make the perfect. The filling is messy, with the grated pear, but otherwise not a problem. I used pecans as that was what I had on hand. They come out of the pan easily, which is always true of this type of cookie. The pear has a great flavor, and one that is unusual in a cookie!

Cranberry Pear Cookie Cups

½ cup butter, room temperature

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons sugar

¾ cup flour

¼ cup oats

¼ teaspoon ginger

½ cup grated fresh pear

1 egg

2 tablespoons dried cranberries, chopped

1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, chopped

1 tablespoon nuts, chopped

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Mix on medium until smooth. Add the flour, oats, and ginger and mix on low until the dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 24 mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine the pear, egg, cranberries, crystallized ginger, and nuts. Divide the dough into 24 pieces. Press each piece onto the bottom and up the sides of the mini muffin pans. Spoon a small amount of filing into each cookie.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, until light brown. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a wire rack.

Recipe from Taste of Home Fall Baking