Holiday baking this year, 2015, will be quite different for me. I don’t know how to begin this year. I know I want to bake homemade cookies that my family will enjoy. I know I hope to try some new recipes as this is the desire of every creative baker. But this year, well, I will be baking hundreds of cookies instead of thousands. Last year, we baked 10,000 cookies for Christmas gift giving.
Last year at this time, my husband, Dan and I, and our baking & packaging staff were in the middle of the Holiday Rush. Our online bakery, Country Cupboard Cookies, offered 15 flavors of homemade style cookies, which we baked onsite, packaged and shipped in sweet gift boxes nationwide. We loved the business (most of the time) but for many reasons, we knew it was time to retire. And in May of 2015, we did. Despite closing the bakery, I still have a passion for cookies and baking. I decided to maintain the domain, www.CountryCupboardCookies.com and continue the site as a recipe sharing blog.
So, this type of holiday season is foreign to us. We are taking it a whole lot slower this year. For the last 20 years, we worked non-stop the months of the 4th quarter every year. Non-stop except to sleep. It was exhilarating and crazy and exhausting at the same time. We (Dan & I ) fought at times and I cried (big time crying) at least twice during the holiday baking season every year. Ah, just a little stressful, as any time-oriented business is. But we always pulled through and on December 24th every year, I had such a high, that somehow I wanted to do it again next year. And so we did. Until it was time to move on.
I will write more about our small business in future posts, but for now, I’m focusing on these wonderful Cranberry White Chocolate Cookies! We baked this recipe year round in the bakery and they were part of our Holiday Assortment. Tart cranberries, creamy white chocolate and old-fashioned oatmeal combine to bake into a soft and chewy cookie that reminds me of home. It is the perfect cookie to bake for someone during the holidays. They are an easy cookie to bake and with the white chocolate drizzled on top, they look irresistible too. The cookies keep well in your fridge or freezer and are fabulous to enjoy chilled, room temperature or microwaved briefly.
I hope you’ll try this cookie recipe and add Cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies to your holiday baking list this year. You’ll need dried cranberries, white chocolate chunks or chips and old-fashioned ( rolled oats ) oatmeal, along with the usual baking ingredients of butter, sugar, eggs and flour.
And let the holiday baking begin!
- 4 ounces butter (1/2 cup)
- 3½ ounces white sugar (1/2 cup)
- 3½ ounces brown sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 whole egg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 5½ ounces all purpose flour (1¼ cup)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 ounces old-fashioned oatmeal (1/2 cup) NOT quick oats
- 5 ounces dried cranberries (1 cup)
- 5 ounces white chocolate chunks or chips ( approximately 1 cup)
- Additional white chocolate for drizzling on top, optional
- Preheat 360 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugars.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt and beat just until combined. Add oatmeal and combine.
- Stir in cranberries and white chocolate chunks until evenly distributed.
- Chill for 30 minutes.
- Scoop cookie batter using a ice cream scoop (1¾ ounces dough) and place on parchment of silpat lined cookie sheet.
- Bake 360 degrees 12 to 14 minutes until lightly browned and set.
To drizzle with white chocolate, use approximately ½ cup white chocolate chunks and melt in microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds. Watch carefully as chocolate will burn easily. Drizzle cookies with chocolate after cookies have cooled. Set in the refrigerator until chocolate is firm.
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