I knew I needed an intervention when I came to the bottom of my bottle of molasses. I mean, who finishes an entire bottle of molasses?!? That’s like finishing a bottle of nail polish — it just doesn’t happen. Molasses is one of those things that hangs out in the back of your pantry for decades, waiting with bated breath every time you reach for a sweetener, only to be passed over in favour of its milder cousins, brown sugar and honey.
But there I was, standing in my kitchen clutching an inverted bottle of molasses as I impatiently waited for that last sluggish tablespoon to make its way down the side of the bottle and into my mixing bowl. Needless to say, I was standing there for quite some time. I needed it, though — needed my fix. After all, what good was trying to make a [third] batch of chocolate gingerbread brownies without the molasses? No good at all.
Now, I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I took that as a sign that it was time to step away from the bottle [of molasses] and move on to a new obsession. Allow me to introduce you to it…
White chocolate and cranberries — a match made in heaven. You’ve got your slightly-too-sweet chocolate on the one hand, and your slightly-too-tart cranberries on the other. Put them together and you’re left with that kind of perfect harmony that seems to only exist in the movies… but better because its edible. And I haven’t even told you the best part…
While white chocolate and cranberries are good, what really sets these cookies apart is the addition of orange zest. I know they usually say three’s a crowd, but in this case three’s what takes things from “Man, this is delicious!” to “holy sh*t… fsssshaaaawlalalala.” Exactly. So… white chocolate, cranberries, and orange — my newest downfall obsession.
It took me three tries (and two meltdowns) to get this recipe right, but it was more than worth it. Batch #1 failed because I had a brain fart and somehow only ended up tossing in half the amount of oats that I was supposed to. Batch #2 failed because there was [apparently] too much butter in the dough and I was left with a solid tray of melted oatmeal cookie bark. But batch #3? Batch #3 was good…
Slightly crisp on the outside while being soft and chewy on the inside, these guys are pretty much everything I look for in a perfect oatmeal cookie. Not only do they melt in your mouth in a way that only the most comforting of cookies do, but they offer up an absolutely amazing shot of flavour in the process. Sweet white chocolate and tart dried cranberries rounded out by an aromatic hint of citrus — feel free to swoon.
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White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg, orange zest, and almond extract, mixing until light and fluffy — about 2-3 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients. Stir in oats, dried cranberries, and chocolate chips, mixing until evenly distributed.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 10 -12 minutes, until edges begin to turn golden brown.
- After removing from oven, allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
Toss in a 1\2 cup of slivered almomds. I promise you will not be sorry 🙂
I used this recipe as a base (I changed the extracts and mix-ins) and it made a lovely, chewy, toothsome cookie with balanced sweetness. I made two sizes — my small cookies (2 tsp dough?) were perfect after 8 minutes and my larger cookies (1.5 tbsp dough) were done in 10 to 11 minutes (baking directly on an old aluminum pan). My rating is based on the texture, ease of making these, and sweetness level.
I have a root beer baking extract that I wanted to use, so I tweaked this recipe to try to make something tasty:
– I used 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp root beer flavouring instead of almond extract. I didn’t add any orange zest.
– I added 1.5 tsp cinnamon with the flour mixture.
– I mixed 1/2 cup on Skor bits (toffee bits) into the dough and added a few pieces on each cookie prior to baking for additional sweetness/crunch/decoration.
Thanks for a great starting point to make a few tweaks so I could make a great cookie with the ingredients I have! And if anyone wants to try a cookie with root beer extract: the changes listed above are a great starting point for a fairly subtle twist on the typical oatmeal cookie.