Oatmeal Cookies with Orange Soaked Cranberries
(clickable link to Coastal Living website)

One of the neighbors brought these cookies to our neighborhood Thanksgiving get-together last Saturday. I passed on them the first time to grab one of the homemade creme horns that we had made that morning. As the neighbor was leaving, she passed around her basket of cookies....OMG!!! Then she said the recipe was in the latest Coastal Living magazine (which I JUST started a subscription to and my first issue had arrived a few days earlier). I went home and SCORE - I had the right issue! I later found the recipe at the website online - and thought I would share. If you have a cookie exchange to go to this year - take these. They are THAT GOOD.

The picture doesn't do these justice....just sayin' LOL


Oatmeal Cookies with Orange Soaked Cranberries
Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup orange liqueur
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup uncooked regular oats
• 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped

Preparation

• 1. Combine first 2 ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. Drain and set aside. (To quickly steep cranberries, combine cranberries and liqueur in a small bowl, and microwave on high 30 seconds; cover and let stand 2 hours.)
• 2. Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour and next 3 ingredients in a medium bowl.
• 3. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; gradually beat in granulated and brown sugars. Beat in egg, orange zest, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in oats, chocolate, and cranberries.
• 4. Drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, in batches, 10 to 12 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, and cool completely.

Jackie Mills, R.D., Coastal Living NOVEMBER 2011