Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies

On Friday our Relay for Life ( to fight against cancer) team at school ( well, work for me, as I am a teacher) is hosting a fundraiser, where we will be selling a taco salad with dessert, and all the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society. I volunteered to bake the desserts, as this is something I enjoy. I will bring these cookies, chocolate-caramel cake and coconut cream pie, which I will bake tomorrow night. I couple of friends stopped by while I was baking the cookies, they tried them and said they were delicious! I certainly think so :-)

This recipe yields about 3 dozen cookies. 

Ingredients:

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon table salt

- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup brown sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 3 cups oats ( not instant)

- 1 cup dried cranberries ( or raisins)

- 6 oz. good-quality white chocolate chips

Directions: 

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl, set aside. 

Cream butter, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy( about 5 minutes). Add flour mixture, stir until completely blended. 

Fold the oats ( by hand, do not use mixer), cranberries, and white chocolate into the dough until evenly distributed. 

Drop the dough into 3 tablespoons mounds ( a #40 cookie scoop if you have one) onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. 

Bake for 11-13, or until golden but still a little moist. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. 

Enjoy!!!

Fresh out of the oven, notice the parchment paper lining the baking sheet.

If you forget to soften your butter before hand, like I did, just beat it with a rolling pin about three times, then turn it over and repeat on all sides about five times.

Great stress reliever!

When the butter/sugar mixture is ready it will lighten in color and drip easily. You should not see any pieces of butter.

Folding in the oats, add cup by cup and fold in gently.

My favorite part- the chocolate! Make sure it's real chocolate, not almond bark.

It will be hard to mix it at this point, be patient and gentle.