A variation on the more traditional Oatmeal-Raisin Cookie.
Just as delicious, if not more, owing to the toasted almonds and all.
A sweet and nutty cookie, pairs very well with both coffee and tea.
Old Fashioned Oats (lightly toasted) - 3 cups
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon (ground) - 1/2 tsp
Dried Cranberries - 1 1/2 cup
Toasted Almonds (chopped) - 1 1/2 cup
Eggs (large) - 2
Unsalted butter (softened) - 2 sticks or 16 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon for the raisins
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Optional Spice: I personally like the taste of cranberries and almonds coupled with oats very much and so I choose not to add any additional spice. However, if you feel you want a fuller flavour, I would suggest adding either grated orange peel/ orange zest, or a quarter teaspoon of orange extract/essence (very potent stuff, so go easy).
A Note on Toasting Almonds:
Chop almonds into small bits until you have one and a half cups full. Lay the nuts out on a cookie sheet and toast them in your oven, preheated to 350 degrees F. It takes ten minutes in my oven and I rotate the pan at five minutes tossing the nuts slightly while doing so.
Alternatively, you can toast almonds in a skillet or frying pan on the stove. Just be sure to stand by and stir constantly, regulating the heat if you see them starting to burn.
Personally, I prefer toasting nuts in the oven. I find they toast more evenly and it involves less busy work.
To make cookie dough:
Just as delicious, if not more, owing to the toasted almonds and all.
A sweet and nutty cookie, pairs very well with both coffee and tea.
Old Fashioned Oats (lightly toasted) - 3 cups
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon (ground) - 1/2 tsp
Dried Cranberries - 1 1/2 cup
Toasted Almonds (chopped) - 1 1/2 cup
Eggs (large) - 2
Unsalted butter (softened) - 2 sticks or 16 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon for the raisins
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Optional Spice: I personally like the taste of cranberries and almonds coupled with oats very much and so I choose not to add any additional spice. However, if you feel you want a fuller flavour, I would suggest adding either grated orange peel/ orange zest, or a quarter teaspoon of orange extract/essence (very potent stuff, so go easy).
A Note on Toasting Almonds:
Chop almonds into small bits until you have one and a half cups full. Lay the nuts out on a cookie sheet and toast them in your oven, preheated to 350 degrees F. It takes ten minutes in my oven and I rotate the pan at five minutes tossing the nuts slightly while doing so.
Alternatively, you can toast almonds in a skillet or frying pan on the stove. Just be sure to stand by and stir constantly, regulating the heat if you see them starting to burn.
Personally, I prefer toasting nuts in the oven. I find they toast more evenly and it involves less busy work.
To make cookie dough:
- Mix flour, baking soda, salt
- Cream the butter, white sugar and brown sugar.
I know I said I don't ever use white sugar in Oatmeal Cookies, but the tartness of the cranberries are best balanced with some good old fashioned, full-strength WHITE sugar. :)
- Add the eggs one at a time, cream after each addition.
- Add vanilla.
- Mix the flour into the butter-sugar-egg mixture in a few installments. (It usually takes me three)
- Stir in the cranberries and toasted almonds.
- Chill the mixture for around half hour.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Portion out the cookie dough and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Depending on your individual oven it usually takes around 30 minutes to bake.
Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Look for brown edges with slightly soft centers. Soft to being pushed gently with your finger that is.
In case you're wondering about the shape of these cookies, they were
frozen solid when I baked them, which causes them to spread less. If you
would like your frozen cookies to spread more, halfway through your
baking time (when you are rotating the cookie sheet) flatten the cookie
out with a flat ladle. If you aren't a stickler for flatter cookies, I
wouldn't trouble myself with this too much. The difference in baking
time I find is about 5 minutes less if you do flatten it. But again,
this depends a lot on your individual oven.
A Note on Freezing Cookie Dough:
It's
a great idea! Saves you the temptation of buying crappy, additive
ridden cookies in the grocery store. All you need to do is:
1. Portion out the cookie dough into little balls. I use a soup ladle or an ice cream scoop.
2. Roll them into balls and arrange them on a platter small enough to fit in your freezer.
3. Ensure the cookies aren't touching one another. Freeze for 15 minutes.
4.
When you take them out of the freezer, the individual dough balls are
frozen on the outside but probably not frozen through. Working quickly,
transfer them to a plastic zip top bag and put them back in the
freezer.
5.
Experience has taught me to freeze only as many cookies as would fit on
my cookie sheet in one bag. No more. They don't refreeze very well. So
if you've made 24 dough balls and your cookie sheet can only accommodate
6 at a time, freeze them in 4 zip top bags of 6 each. Not one big bag
of 24.
