White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

1) Soften the butter in the microwave – make sure it’s just softened, not melted!

Tip: I like to use both butter and oil – it’s what my mom Audrey did! You can do one or the other and just double up on the amount of the one you use

Tip: Use an electric mixer if at all possible. Best is a Kitchen Aid stand up one but any electric mixer will do the trick. Ingredients get mixed in much more consistently that way.

2) Add butter, oil, sugar and brown sugar into electric mixer and mix until all ingredients are combined and mixture is smooth.

3) Add to the mixture: 1 large egg, pure vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix briefly to incorporate.
Tip: Make sure it’s pure vanilla extract and not imitation vanilla flavoring. It’s worth the extra expense to get pure vanilla extract as it makes a huge flavor difference

4) Add flour and oats to the mixer and mix until all ingredients are well blended in.

5) Add white chocolate chips and dried cranberries and make sure all ingredients are well blended.

6) Drop by ice cream scooper onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. Baking times will vary by oven but it’s approximately 13 minutes.

YIELD – 15 cookies – using an ice cream scooper that is 2” in diameter circle and 1” depth. Each cookie weighs about 1.5-1.6 oz

Tip: Using an ice cream scooper to deposit the cookies on the cookie sheet is a little secret to making uniform beautiful cookies. You can use small scooper for mini cookies or larger one for larger cookies. They look very professional that way!

Tip: I think the best cookie sheets are those that are darker in color and have a rimmed edge. Cookies seem to cook better on these versus the flat sheets.

Tip: The use of parchment paper is a personal choice. It’s great if you don’t want to have to clean the pans after baking!