‘Tis the season for all things festive! So I just looked up at my calendar and it’s November 20th. Come again? Is it just me or does Christmas start earlier and earlier each year? The day after Halloween I went to Target to buy cheap candy and BAM! Christmas everywhere. I’m sitting here now, a week away from Thanksgiving, making sure I have time to bake all of my favorite fall treats before we’re too far into the land of eternal candy canes and gingerbread.
So let me tell you a few things about these cookies. 1) They’re really good. 2) I’ve made them for like every holiday party in the past year. 3) They’re really good. I made these a few weeks ago for the annual Blackall pig roast. Le me tell you, these are a crowd pleaser. I don’t know what it is, but you’d think that I sprinkled cocaine throughout the dough because these were gone in two seconds. Seriously, these get rave reviews every time I make them! For those of you who have been asking me for the recipe, here it is (finally)!
These cookies are perfect for the holidays. I took a traditional oatmeal cookie and threw in anything and everything that I thought would be good. This time, I decided to go with white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, some toasted pecans, and a few dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg. So good! If you don’t like those flavors, feel free to substitute anything you like. Coconut, white chocolate, and macadamia nut sounds divine. Dark chocolate and orange? I bet that would be delicious. What other combinations would be good? Let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll make you some!
Cranberry White Chocolate Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
· ¾ cups unsalted butter, softened
· ½ cup sugar
· ½ cup brown sugar
· 2 eggs
· 2 tsp vanilla
· 2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats (not steel cut!)
· 2 tsp cinnamon
· 1/8 tsp nutmeg
· ½ tsp salt
· ¼ tsp baking powder
· 1 tsp baking soda
· 1 cup white chocolate chips
· 1 cup dried cranberries (cherries would be good too!)
· 1 cup chopped pecans (any nut will work)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients — flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking powder, and soda — and mix until combined. Add the nuts, chips, and dried cranberries and mix one last time!
Scoop 2 tbsp mounds of dough onto prepared trays. Bake for 8-10 minutes (9 minutes was perfect for me!). Allow to cool on trays before serving!