Baking up some delicious Cranberry Pistachio Oatmeal Cookies - A sweet recipe

Introduction

When I owned my B&B I had a bottomless cookie jar as one of the perks for guests (a few who did find the bottom, but it was soon filled). This meant I baked A LOT of cookies. I baked in batches of 12 dozen (yes, 144 cookies) and would immediately freeze them to have fresh baked cookies at the ready all the time. Freezing preserves the moisture and they thaw out super fast.

My daughters loved to help in baking the cookies (and licking the spatula), and as much as I could I would get them involved in the process. These baking sessions also enhanced their science and math skills as I would double a recipe and talk through the hows and whys of each step. More on how cookies can teach in a future blog...and in my upcoming book ;).

I liked to take a simple recipe and tweak it by varying the add-ins to add a unique twist on a classic. Such is the case with this recipe, where I took a classic oatmeal recipe and brought in the flavors of fall and the upcoming holiday season. The red from the cranberry and the green from the pistachios will allow this cranberry oatmeal cookie recipe to make it into your baking repertoire all the way through to the first of the year.

I added in a bit of ginger to compliment the dried cranberries and cinnamon. These cookies are great with a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate as the days scream for warm sweaters and reading while snuggled up on the couch.

Ingredients for Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Yields Approximately 5 dozen small cookies

Mise en place - everything in its place

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups Sifted All Purpose Flour

• 2 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats - Processed for 30 seconds in blender of food processor.

• 1 teaspoon Fine Ground Salt

• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda

  
  

• 1 cup Dried Cranberries

• 1 cup Pistachios - shelled

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 cup Unsalted Butter (2 sticks) - softened

• 1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar

• 1/2 cup Granulated Cane Sugar

• 3 large Eggs

• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Preparing Your Workspace

The process will be more enjoyable if you start by preparing and measuring out your ingredients, gathering your tools, and setting everything out ahead of beginning to mix. In the professional cooking world this is known as Mis en Place.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. (If using a convection oven, ensure it is 25ºF lower.)

Grab those hot pads or oven mitts and have those ready too. At the same time, set your cooling rack out and find that spatula.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment or silicon mats. (If you have neither, buttering the pans also works, yes butter, not some awful pan spray filled with processed chemicals!)

Mixing the Ingredients

- Mix Dry Ingredients: Combine flour, oats, spices, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl with a whisk. Whisking lightens the mixture and air helps with the final texture. Set aside until the wet ingredients are mixed together.

- Cream Butter and Sugar: This step is vital for the best cookies and it’s essential for good texture. It is done when the mixture resembles a kind of thick whipped cream.

- Incorporate the eggs one at a time, be sure each is completely incorporated before adding the next one, this is another step that helps improve the texture. It is also important to have the eggs at room temperature for the best results.

- Stir in the Flour mixture, Cranberries and Pistachios: You can do this with the stand mixer or with a spoon and fold in by hand. Continue mixing until all ingredients are incorporated and the flour is mixed in.

Shaping and Baking the Cookies

• I like to use a small cookie scoop, you can also use two teaspoons, one to scoop and one to get the dough off the spoon and onto the cookie sheet.

- Size Matters: Either way you use to get your cookie dough divided out onto the cookie sheet, be sure to have them the same size. It will ensure each cookie cooks up right. Cookies of different sizes on the same sheet will end with some being over cooked and some being undercooked. If you want different sized cookies from the same batch, use two cookie sheets and have one with small cookies and some with large.

- Spacing on the Baking Sheet: Be sure to space the cookie dough out about 2 inches between them. The cookies will spread some when baking. (Unless you really want to make one BIG cookie!)

• Place the cookie sheet in the middle rack of the preheated oven. If using two racks, be sure to rotate the cookie sheets midway through the cooking.

Divide out the cookie dough

- Bake for 10-12 minutes: Baking time will vary depending on your cookie size and your oven. If you are using a convection oven they might bake up faster. Look for the golden-brown edges.

Pro Tip: One strategy to determine baking time is to bake one initial cookie by itself and determine ideal cooking time by watching that one cookie until it reaches perfection. This is also a good strategy if you want to ensure proper spread. If your sample cookie does not spread enough you can mix in a little bit of milk to the cookie batch, if it spreads too much, mix in a little flour. Make note on the recipe for next time.

Cooling and Storing

• Cool Cookies: on a wire rack. But of course you can have one (or two) warm cookies, after all you earned it.

• Once the cookies are completely cool, store in airtight containers. This will keep them soft.

- Freezing for Later: For longer storage, place the container in the freezer, they thaw fast and then you have a sweet snack at the ready.

Changing up the recipe

• This recipe is a winner for fall and into the winter. But you can make this recipe your own by changing the fruits and nuts and even the spices.

- Fruit nut combos: cherries and almonds; dried apples and walnuts; dried pineapple and macadamia nuts; cranberries and pecans; blueberries and almonds.....the combos are virtually endless

- Spice it up: Change the spices to suite your taste and enhance the different fruit nut combinations. Some spices are very strong like cardamom or cloves, so use these sparingly, perhaps only 1/4 teaspoon.

Conclusion

• Baking cookies can be a fun activity for kids. Remember to not stress and enjoy the process. Let the kids help add ingredients, or measure out the fruits and nuts.

• Experiment with making the recipe your own by switching up the fruits, nuts, and spices. Allergic to nuts? Leave them out and just add a bit more dried fruit. Don't like dried fruit? Leave it out and just have some awesome oatmeal cookies. (But trust me, they are better with the fruit.)

• What combos have you tried? Share in the comments below.

  
  

  

  Your sweet reward!