Our Favorite Anytime Cookies

These cookies were supposed to go on Stephanie’s holiday cookie link-up like two weeks ago. But around here, life gets in the way of all my best-laid plans and we never made our cookies until Christmas Eve morning!

The good news, though, is that these cookies are not specifically Christmas cookies – these are anytime cookies! We have often taken them to holiday gatherings and they are quite festive, though! I found this recipe on the back of a package of Ocean Spray dried cranberries a few years ago and we’ve been making them ever since. They have become our little family’s favorite!

Kidzilla and I have made these for holiday gatherings, non-holiday gatherings, and just for the sake of making cookies. They are fast and easy and truly tasty. Everywhere we’ve taken these, people have raved and asked for the recipe.

Give them a try – you’ll be hooked. And then you can do what we’ve done and try some fun variations! For example, last year we took them to a family Hanukkah gathering and Zilla wanted to use dried blueberries rather than cranberries so the cookies would be blue and white. It worked and the touch of holiday-appropriate colors did not go unnoticed. Good call, Zilla!

So without further ado, here are Our Favorite Cookies – properly known as Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. The recipe below is straight from their package/website.

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1  5-ounce package Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, mixing well.

Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

 You can get the recipe by going right to Ocean Spray’s recipe page (linked above). I also have it pinned to my Desserts and Sweets board on Pinterest.

Now. You can do a whole lot of things with this recipe. We have used dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried blueberries on various occasions. All equally delicious. You can also use milk or dark chocolate chips in place of the white – all depends on your taste. I am pretty sure we used whole wheat flour at least once in place of the regular white all-purpose flour.

What I like most about these cookies is that they aren’t overly sweet or heavy. The last time we took them somewhere, somebody said they were almost scone-like. Maybe they are. Which brings up a good tip – the batter for this tends to be pretty thick and dry. Sometimes we make them per the instructions and they are just right. This week we couldn’t seem to get all the flour to absorb properly so we added a little bit of melted butter to the batter to help. It worked.

Trying to get a shot of the batter for you there, but the Fab Hub decided that Rudolph needed to help. So the best I can give you is a shot of the batter on the baking sheets waiting to go into the oven.

While I wouldn’t call these cookies a health food (they are cookies, after all), you could do a lot worse than dried fruit, brown sugar, and oatmeal. I feel much less concern letting Kidzilla have a couple of these than I would some other heavy, sugary treats. Ingredients are as all-natural as you like – like subbing in whole wheat flour, for example. If you wanted to make these vegan, you could use whatever vegan substitute you like for particular ingredients.

Whatever version of them you decide works for you, give them a try. You’ll have cookies on your snack plate in less than an hour and they won’t completely undo your healthy, sensible eating efforts.

Enjoy!