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White Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I am crazy about these cookies. Simply put they are just really good. It’s everything I want in a cookie; sweet, chewy and loaded with flavor in every bite. They are like perfect. And because they have oats, cranberries, and walnuts (and white chocolate chips- but just mumble that under your breath) I feel good about eating them for breakfast. Or in between meals. Or after lunch. and dinner.

As organic as possible:

3/4 cup Butter, softened

1 cup packed Brown sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Baking soda

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 3/4 cups Flour

2 cups Oats

1 cup White chocolate chips

1 cup Cranberries

3/4 cup chopped Walnuts

Preheat the oven to 375º. Beat butter by hand or with electric mixer until creamy. Add sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon and continue to beat until creamy, light and fluffy (scraping the sides as necessary). Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Mix in the flour (I like to do this 1 cup and 3/4 cup at a time). Stir in oats. Batter will be getting thick! Fold in white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts until all are evenly incorporated.

I have said it in the past, we like our cookies big. So I use an ice cream scoop, but you can use smaller spoons if you’d like. Drop the cookies onto an un-greased cookie sheet (leaving space for growth in between). Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until edges are turning brown and center is soft (not wet). Allow to cool for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

*I adapted (dare I say perfected) this recipe many moons ago from a Better Homes and Gardens oatmeal cookie recipe. And you may take any liberties you’d like with substituting ingredients because this recipe is flexible, but if I were you I’d try it like this at least once.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are like the king of all cookies. I mean there are a lot of really good cookies out there, but I think they all are held to a standard: “is it better than a chocolate chip?” Ask a kid what there favorite cookie is; I bet nine times out of ten it’s a chocolate chip. Needless to say, you’ve got to have a chocolate chip recipe in your repertoire.

Makes 22-24 using a 2″ cookie scoop (ice cream scoops work too!)

As organic as possible:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (rounded) sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 10 oz bag large chocolate chips (I <3 Simple Truth organic) or 2 cups regular choc chips

Preheat oven to 375. Beat shortening and butter in a large bowl with electric mixer (or old-fashioned muscle power works too). Add brown sugar, sugar, baking soda and salt. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides as needed. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add flour scoops at a time. If too much for a machine, finish mixing by hand until all flour is incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop cookies onto a baking sheet leaving about 2″ of space in between globs for room to spread. We like large cookies! So to accommodate our cookie love we use a large scoop, but smaller scoops work too; just lessen your baking time. For large cookies, bake about 12-14 minutes, until edges are just starting to brown and the center is still soft.

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Baking cookies is easy! And it’s fun to do with your kids!  It’s pretty hard to mess up (unless you forget them in the oven).