Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

This cookie recipe is based upon the Oatmeal Cookies recipe in How to Cook Everything.  I added ¾ cup Craisins, ¾ cup white chocolate chips and ½ cup nuts to the base recipe.  I first made these late last year when I had Craisins, white chocolate chips and chopped pecans left over from some holiday baking I had done.  I neither wanted the ingredients to become stale in my cupboard, nor did I want to throw them away. 

I’m not generally one for improvisation, but these cookies turned out really well.  I spooned one generous tablespoon dough  for each cookie onto an ungreased, non-stick, insulated cookie sheet.  Twelve cookies fit on a sheet.  Because these cookies contain so many lumpy ingredients, I did not use my cookie dough scoop.  This dough is really soft.  You’ll want to chill it.

º       1 stick butter – softened

º       ½ cup brown sugar

º       ½ cup white sugar

º       2 eggs

º       ½ cup milk

º       ½ teaspoon vanilla

º       1 ½ cups all purpose flour

º       2 cups oatmeal (not instant)

º       ½ teaspoon cinnamon

º       2 teaspoons baking powder

º       Pinch salt

º       ¾ cup Craisins

º       ¾ cup white chocolate chips

º       ½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375.  I used 360 because I was using dark cookie sheets.

Everyone assembles cookies differently.  Here’s what I did with these: Measure the dry ingredients into a medium-sized mixing bowl.  Use a fork or a flat whisk to make sure the dry ingredients are combined.  In a second mixing bowl, cream the butter.  Add both sugars to the butter and mix well.  Next, add the eggs, milk, and vanilla, making sure that the wet ingredients are nice and fluffy.  Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  I used my mixer up until this point.  Finally, add the Craisins, chips and nuts with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.  Let cookies sit for a minute or two before transferring them to a cooling rack.  I got 44 cookies from this recipe.