Saturday, December 22, 2007

Cranberry Christmas Cookie

For somehow, not only at Christmas,
but all the long year through,
the joy you give to others is the joy
that comes back to you.
-John Greenleaf Whittier

If we can't give joy, perhaps we can give cookies. Or cookie makings. Hmm. Perhaps it's all the same.

As it turns out, there's no time for jam... not with all the hall decking and fa-la-la-la-la-ing going on around here. Oh well. We'll do Cranberry Christmas Cookie bowls instead. I spent part of the morning carefully (ha!) measuring and layering ingredients into these awesome kitchen workhorses, tossing in recipe cards and tying it all with ornaments and bows. They're for my two sweet Jo's... Jolene and JoAnne... neither of which I could (would) ever do without....

CRANBERRY CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Stir together until combined:

½ c. granulated sugar
¾ c. sweetened dried cranberries
½ c. white or semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ c. packed brown sugar
1½ c. flour
½ t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
1 c. quick or old-fashioned oats
½ c. chopped pecans (or walnuts... macadamias... whatever)

In a separate bowl, mix together:

¾ c. (1½ sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Add contents of cranberry bowl to the butter bowl. Stir until well mixed. Drop well-rounded spoonfuls onto parchment lined (or non-stick) baking sheet. Lightly flatten dough with the back of a spoon. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

(I toast the pecans or walnuts… whatever I have on hand… before mixing them into the batter. Do as you wish. If you plan, as I did, to give this as a gift mix, layer the first list of ingredients (in order listed) into a pretty jar or bowl and include instructions for adding the butter, eggs, and vanilla and baking. Recipe inspiration courtesy of Pampered Chef.)

8 comments:

Vee said...

My friend and I were just discussing what a fantastic idea this is, Brin. Very clever! It's a gift that anyone would be delighted to receive; I even feel as if I've received one, too. :)

Deb said...

I love your Cranberry Cookie Bowl idea ... I'll copy it down to do next Christmas :-}
Wishing you the happiest of Holidays Brin! Merry Christmas.

Betty said...

What a nice gift, Brin..who wouldn't be pleased to get that!
Are you almost done with decorating and gifting?

Anonymous said...

i so wanted to do something like this for Christmas but all i came up with was the standard hot choco mix... tired old thing!! wish i had gotten my hands on this sooner, maybe next year!! love everything you do as always!! connie

Mrs. JoAnne Mabey said...

i think that you are one of my favorites! thank you!!! and i really am so happily depressed that you have such an awesomely far away job that you get to learn so much at. i guess we will look forward to spring eh? so how's the book?

Jenny said...

Yummocious!!!

Unknown said...

Leave it to you to come up with such a sweet idea, I guess that's why your writing a cookbook! lol I'll have to try these cookies out on the family! Merry Christmas Brin, sending you tons of holiday hugs!!

redeemed diva said...

Great idea! And they way you wrapped them looks so special and festive.