Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

mvandelaar — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 21:53:54 +0000

Looking for the perfect cookie recipe for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or just any regular old weekday? With their delicious flavor and red and white colors, these sweet and tangy Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies are where it’s at!

I do love me a good oatmeal cookie. There’s some sort of amazing magic that happens when you add oatmeal to a cookie batter; I don’t know if it’s the texture, the flavor, or what. It just seems to take cookies that already taste good to the next level. And, because of the oatmeal, they can be considered breakfast, right?

What I’m not crazy in love with, though, is white chocolate. I mean, it’s fine, it’s just a little sickly sweet for me I guess…at least in most recipes. When you combine that white chocolate with tangy dried cranberries and the magic that is oatmeal, however, now you’ve got a winner!

I started making these Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies when the Dutchie and I first started dating. I’ve always been one to show my love through cooking/baking, but I learned pretty quickly that he’s not much of a fan of regular chocolate chips. I don’t get it, but hey we’ve all got our thing, right? Anyway, I made it my mission to find a cookie that we both could love equally, and these bad boys were the answer!

Tips for Making Great Cookies:

-If the recipe calls for butter, made sure it is softened, not melted. It’s also a good idea to whip your butter a little bit in the bowl before adding the sugars.

-If you are using unsalted butter (I almost always do), make sure you don’t forget to add a little salt to your batter! Using salted butter? Then you may not need to add extra, depending on the saltiness of your butter. I always taste a “bit” of my batter to see if I need to add any/more salt, but of course I can’t really recommend that you eat raw cookie dough (ahem), so you could always bake a single cookie and try it…

-When I’m cooking, I prefer to use kosher or sea salt, but when I’m baking I use just regular table salt. It just seems to blend in to batters and doughs more smoothly.

-ALWAYS use real vanilla extract; stay clear of the imitation stuff. Yes, you can taste the difference.

-If you are only using one or two cookie sheets, make sure you let them cool down between cookie batches. If you put cookie dough on a warm/hot cookie sheet, it’s going to start cooking on the bottom before you get it in the oven, and will be too crispy around the edges while taking longer to bake in the middle.

How to Make Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Start by whipping the softened butter. You can do with in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, in a large bowl with an electric mixer, or by hand. Once you’ve whipped the butter for a minute or so to get it softened up a little more, add in the sugars. Allow those to combine, then if you are using a mixer, stop and scrape down the sides (check the bottom, too!) of the bowl. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt, then stir in the oats. Gradually add the flour/oat mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Once everything is totally combined (you will probably need to scrape down the sides of your bowl again), gently gold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Using either a tablespoon or small scoop, place balls of cookie dough on the sheets lined with parchment paper, making sure to leave some distance in between them so they can expand. If you use a scoop, just keep in mind that they won’t expand as much as they do when you just drop them on with a spoon. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on your oven and how crispy you like your cookies. I like mine soft and chewy, and with my oven 10 minutes is the perfect amount of time. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.