Oatmeal & Dried Cranberry Cookies

Is there anything better than a soft, flavorful cookie fresh from the oven, served with a glass of milk or cup of tea? These cookies fit the bill. Unfortunately, they happened to come out of the oven right around lunchtime today, which means I had four oatmeal-cranberry cookies for lunch. (Shh...don't tell my kids.) Hey now, don't judge me - you know you've done it, too. Besides, these have oatmeal and cranberries. That makes for a lunch of champions. Right?

My dad (aka our "Cookie King") introduced me to this recipe, which he found on the America's Test Kitchen website.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the two oven racks in the bottom and middle of the oven.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour...

½ teaspoon salt...

½ teaspoon baking powder...

and ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg.

I've showed you my nifty little nutmeg grinder before, right? Well, here it is again. I love my grinder! If you don't have one of these, grate fresh nutmeg on a rasp (you know, one of those skinny graters). You promise to use fresh nutmeg. Okay, pinky swear.

Whisk together these dry ingredients with a whisk.

In a large bowl, beat ½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter with a hand-mixer (or by hand if you want a little extra exercise) until the butter is creamy.

Add 1 cup granulated sugar...

...and 1 cup packed brown sugar.

Beat until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add 2 eggs, one a time, beating after each addition.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture with a wooden spoon until combined.

Stir in 3 cups rolled oats and 1 ½ cups dried cranberries. You can also use raisins or dried cherries.

Scoop out 2 tablespoon of the dough at a time, form into a ball, and put on the parchment paper.

When I make cookies, I can't do without my mini ice cream scoop. It scoops out balls that are just about 2 tbsp. Perfect!

Place the balls about 2 inches away from each other on the parchment paper.

Bake the cookies until the edges turn golden brown. The original recipe calls for 22-25 minutes. My cookies only took 16-18 minutes. Maybe it's the altitude. Halfway through baking, switch the positions of the baking sheets, plus turn them around (what was the front is not the back and vice-versa).

After removing the cookies from the oven, let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 2-3 minutes and then slide the parchment papers, with the cookies on them, onto cooling racks. Repeat with the rest of the dough. I was able to re-use the parchment paper for the next batches.

Okay, now eat one. Quick - before your kids see them.

Oatmeal & Dried Cranberry Cookies

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3 cups rolled oats

1 ½ cups dried cranberries (or raisins or dried cherries)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the two oven racks in the bottom and middle of the oven.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and grated nutmeg.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand-mixer until the butter is creamy. Add granulated and brown sugars. Beat until the mixture is creamy and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one a time, beating after each addition.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in oats and dried cranberries.

Scoop out 2 tablespoon of the dough at a time, form into a ball, and put on the parchment paper. Place the balls about 2 inches away from each other. Bake the cookies until the edges turn golden brown. The original recipe calls for 22-25 minutes. My cookies only took 16-18 minutes. Halfway through baking, switch the positions of the baking sheets, plus turn them around (what was the front is not the back and vice-versa).

Makes 18-24 cookies.