A few weeks ago I participated in a bake sale for charity. This gave me the chance to bring back the Christmas wreath cookies (which are more science experiment than cookie… I’ll let you figure out the hypothesis…) and give out some of my favorite hot chocolate mix.
I knew I also wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, but I didn’t want to just do the basic recipe. With “a little of this” and “a little of that” I ended up making a new favorite combination!
The fact that I like to bake sometimes doesn’t sit well with the fact that I don’t like paying attention to details. Baking recipes typically require that you follow the recipe to a T. With that said, I didn’t change the basic recipe found on the back of the yellow bag, I just added to it.
My secret ingredients for this round were oatmeal, dried cranberries, and good, quality cinnamon. If the few positives of winter could be described in a cookie, it would be this cookie. (And I don’t know about you, but I much rather discuss winter in terms of baked goods vs. what it actually is – a bleak time period where we walk outside with hunched shoulders and locked out knees waiting for April to finally come around…)
As you’ll see below, this really is the recipe we’ve all done a million times, but I added 3/4 cup dried cranberries and 3/4 cup oatmeal. I did 3/4 cup of each because that measuring cup was already dirty. You could probably take it down to 1/2 cup or up to a full cup if you prefer more or less of those flavors.
After I scooped out the dough onto the cookie sheets (lined with silpats), I dusted each cookie with my Penzey’s Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon. Any good quality cinnamon would work. Again, there wasn’t an exact science to how much cinnamon each cookie received, but I did want to keep it light – more of a secret ingredient vs. a BAM-HERE’S A CINNAMON COOKIE!
I encourage you to give this recipe a try and/or make your own combination. Now that I’ve perfected a winter chocolate chip cookie, I need to start thinking about the other seasons. Perhaps a strawberry and macadamia nut combo for summer or apple and pecan for fall. Oh, I can’t wait to play!!
Please share any combinations that sound interesting to you – I’m willing to be the guinea pig and will try them for the rest of us.
Wintery Chocolate Chip Cookies
Print recipe
| Serves | 60 |
| Website | Based off of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe |
Ingredients
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter (two sticks)
- 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 Large eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/4 cups white flour
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies (12 oz)
- 3/4 cups oatmeal
- 3/4 cups dried cranberries
- 5 tablespoons cinnamon
Directions
| 1. | Preheat oven to 375° F. |
| 2. | Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sprinkle in baking soda and salt. Gradually beat in flour. Stir in chocolate chips, oatmeal and dried cranberries. |
| 3. | Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets (optional - lined with silpats.) Sprinkle each cookie with cinnamon, using roughly one tablespoon per dozen cookies. |
| 4. | BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. |
