Thursday 5 February 2009

Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Do your loved ones have a favourite that you bake? I’ve often asked this same question to both my hubby and son and they always give me the same answer. My son’s favourite is a Chocolate Orange Cake, which tastes just like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and one I have baked many times. As for my hubby, his choice is Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies, he just adores them! I’ve baked different varieties of this combo but this cookie recipe wins hands down. I first made these cookies at Christmas to take over to my sister’s house and needless to say everyone simply loved them and I received many compliments, which is always something rewarding for a baker. These soft but chewy cookies are a gorgeous combination of smooth white chocolate, blended wonderfully with the cranberries, the rolled oats and crunchy pecans. The recipe comes courtesy of Nigella’s Christmas cookbook; a definite must have in your book collection.


Cranberry and White Chocolate Cookies

Makes 30

Ingredients
150g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
75g rolled oats (not instant)
125g soft butter
75g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g dried cranberries
50g pecans, roughly chopped
150g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.
Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.
Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.
Cook for 15 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula to cool fully on a wire rack.

18 comments:

Finla said...

This looks yumm.
After christmas i have net baked any cookies.
Bookmarking these.

Sweet Treats by Dani said...

they look wonderful maria!!!
the addition of pecans must add a nice crunch :)

Nic said...

I think cranberry and white chocolate cookies are my favourite of all time, yours look wonderful!

Reeni said...

These have so many goodies in them!! The combo of cranberries and white chocolate is one of my favorites!!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

I've been meaning to make these - they look so good

Gigi said...

I am a cranberry addict! I am so happy I still have bags of frozen cranberries in my freezer! Thanks for sharing this soon to be baked recipe!

Rosie said...

I just know Adrian will enjoy those cookies and I bet not many left in the cookie tin....

They look wonderful Maria!

Rosie x

Anonymous said...

These look great! I love cranberry and chocolate!

Kelly-Jane said...

These ae so good, yours looks delicious :)

Finla said...

I just finished making these cookies and they turned out perfect and delicious. Made them with dark chocolate.
Will post it tommorow.
Thankyou for yet another wonderful recipe.

Maria♥ said...

Thanks for all your lovely comments.

Once my boys caught sight of these cookies, they flew out of the tin, and didn't last more than 2 days!

Maria
x

Mrs B said...

Hi Maria

I have just tried baking these cookies and the mixture has gone too soft and they are spreading out too much in the oven - any thoughts on where I went wrong?

I love your blog & have had fun trying out all the recipes!

Maria♥ said...

Hi KittyKatkin

So sorry to hear that you had problems with the cookies.
I've made these cookies twice now and always had success, so not sure why the recipe didn't work for you. Did you make them very small and flatten them too much? this is the only way I could see them spreading upon baking.

Thanks for the lovely comment about my blog and hope you will continue to visit ;o)

Maria
x

Mrs B said...

The mixture was just really soft and gloopy and hard to get them into balls. They turned out not too bad all the same, a bit flat but still taste yummy! I will try them again once I have replenished the contents of my baking cupboard!

By the way, I made the chicken and white wine stew and light and fluffy rice last night and we loved it - my husband was gutted that he was too full to finish it!!

K xx

underneath the apple tree said...

i am just eating one of these cookies still warm from the oven and am in heaven! yum! i used this recipe from your website coz it was prettier but thought it was the same as the nigella one. my oven must be alot hotter because on the lower rack they only took 5 mins - even better! great recipe thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I've made these several times with whatever nuts, chocolate or fruit I fancy, just using the same total quantity. I measure them out using a small ice cream scoop and don't bother pressing them down. Success every time, I don't think I'll bother with any other cookie recipe from now on.

Clare said...

These are absolutely wonderful to make, and you can cram in loads more choc / pecan / cranberries if you like and they still work really well. Thank you :-)

Dorothy said...

Mmm... I made these the other day; and they are to DIE FOR!

I recommend to anyone and everyone.

Thanks, Maria.