White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

Today I finally managed to bake my hubby’s favourite cookies; he has been requesting these cookies for weeks but I didn’t have time this weekend. It was a busy but productive weekend, with the first glimmer of Christmas coming to our home. I made my Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and mincemeat and the house was filled with that unmistakable Christmassy baking aroma! (More to follow soon on my Christmas Cake, Pudding and Mincemeat!)

These supreme white chocolate and cranberry bejewelled cookies are the finest you’ll ever taste and they don’t last long once I place them in the cookie tin. I was thinking they would make a perfect gift at Christmas, packed in a lovely box and tied with a ribbon.

White Chocolate & Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients
75g (2¾ oz) butter, softened
50g (1¾ oz) soft brown sugar
50g (1¾ oz) caster sugar
1 egg
A few drops of vanilla extract
160g (5¾ oz) plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
110g (3¾ oz) white chocolate chips
50g (1¾ oz) dried cranberries

Preheat the oven 190oC/170oC fan/375oF/Gas 5 and line two baking trays with baking paper. Mash up the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until well mixed, then whisk with electric beaters until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Sift in the flour and baking powder and add a small pinch of salt. Beat with the wooden spoon to make a soft sandy mixture. Stir in the chocolate and cranberries.

Lightly moisten your hands and roughly roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls. Arrange them on the trays, leaving a fair space between for flattening and spreading. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and darkening around the edges. Remove from the oven but leave them on the tray to cool and firm up. These will keep in a cookie tin for a couple of days.

Makes 30 cookies