Yeah, yeah. I know. Oatmeal cookies have become the healthy, ugly stepsister pock-marked with shriveled burnt raisins otherwise known as disappointment.
But these are different!
I made these last-minute for my daughter's school bake sale hoping to have several cookies return to Mama, but my plate was returned to me empty. Alas, my husband asked if I would make another batch, and I just can't disappoint him, can I?
So this is my first recipe posted, so the picture was taken with my phone. Classy. And I didn't bother taking a picture of each step. If you've ever made cookies, you know what it's supposed to look like.
A few tips:
1) Make sure your butter is soft, but not melted. Melted butter leads to sticky, oily, flat cookies.
2) If you shake your cranberries (or any dried fruit) in a little sugar, they will be less likely to sink to the bottom of the cookie.
3) You don't need a fancy stand mixer that many bloggers insist one needs to make amazing cookies. My hubs bought me one a few years ago, and I rarely take the thing out. It takes up real estate on my counter that I'm not willing to give up. It also takes a crap-ton of time to clean. I seriously use a fork for the dry ingredients and a wooden spoon for everything else.
4) While you should allow the cookies to cool a few minutes before removing them from the pan, DO NOT wait until they are stone-cold. You'll need another tool to remove them. A chisel.
Ok. Here we go. My first recipe:
Lemon Scented Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
350 degree oven
**WET**
1 cup butter - softened
1 cup dark brown sugar - packed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
zest from one lemon
**DRY**
2 cups ap flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
**YUMMIES**
3 cups oats
1 cup dried cranberries
Cream butter and sugars. Add remaining wet and beat until light and fluffy. Add dry stuff and mix until blended. Dump oats and cranberries in and mix throughout.
Throw balls of dough the size of golfballs (or other balls similar in size) on a cookie sheet and bake those puppies for 8-10 minutes.
Let cool for at least 5 minutes before attempting to remove from the pan (or risk the little suckers sticking to the pan). Enjoy with a big glass of milk, tea, coffee, wine... Don't judge.
So whaddaya think?
