One Cookie to rule them all.
Merry Christmas Cookie Season!
Hello Food & Stuff Friends!
I have been busy at work making and baking over 500 cookies these last few days—an exhausting but ultimately fun and fulfilling experience. I documented the entire day on Instagram Reels, which was a lot of fun to do! You can watch all of them below.
This is the second year I’ve done cookie orders, and I can say with certainty that it is much easier to make 500 cookies without a stress fracture in your sacrum! Last year, my health was not quite ideal for the strenuous task of being on my feet for the 12+ hour baking day I put in on Friday. Of course, that didn’t stop me! But I can’t say I recommend it to you.
However, I CAN recommend a recipe for White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Orange Brown Butter Oatmeal cookies, which I cobbled together from a few different techniques to make an original recipe. These cookies taste so festive with the cranberry, cinnamon, and orange flavors. They are a bit of work, but so worth it, in my opinion. Find it below!
White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Orange Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Makes around 4 dozen cookies.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup (330 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (213 g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Zest of two oranges
2 tablespoons of orange juice
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup (200 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3 cups (240 g) old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup (60 g) dried cranberries
1 1/2 cup (260 g) white chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Toast the oats: To toast the oatmeal, pour old-fashioned rolled oats into a medium sauté pan and cook the oats over medium heat, stirring frequently. You’ll know the oats are done when they start to turn golden brown and you can smell their beautiful aroma throughout the kitchen. Set aside.
Brown the butter: Place the butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat. Stir the butter the entire time to keep it moving. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam and sizzle around the edges. Keep stirring. In about 5–8 minutes from when you started (depending on the amount of butter you used), the butter will turn golden brown. Some foam will subside and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan will be toasty brown. It will smell intensely buttery and nutty. Immediately remove the pan from heat and pour the butter into heatproof bowl to stop the cooking process.
Bloom the cinnamon: While the butter is still hot, add in the cinnamon to “bloom” the cinnamon. Let the butter cool for about 15 minutes before proceeding.
Mix the wet ingredients: In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, orange juice, orange zest, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
Mix the dry ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, cranberries, and white chocolate chips.
Chill dough: At this point, you can either chill the dough for 2 hours or up to two days in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. I do not recommend baking them right away, as it’s likely they will spread. Each cookie should be about 2 heaped tablespoons, or around 66 grams.
Bake: When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) . The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.
More Cookies
If you’re interested in more cookie recipe recommendations, I published a pretty extensive list a few years ago, which you can find below!
Also, a few years ago, I published an essay on the theological richness (pun intended) of baking with butter and sharing cookies with friends. I republished that essay on my other Substack, in case that sounds interesting to you!
What cookies are you making this year? Or maybe you aren’t making cookies! In that case, may I recommend some cranberry-studded cakes?
Cranberry and Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake: I made this two years ago in my cast iron skillet and it felt so lovely and rustic and was incredibly yummy. Pretty easy recipe, too!
Cranberry Bundt Cake: I am a big fan of bundt cakes and I’ve made this one a couple of years in a row now. I actually omit the white chocolate buttercream icing on this because I feel like it’s good enough without it, but could totally be worth adding back on! The cake contains 3 sticks of butter and a block of cream cheese, so you know this is going to be good…
Merry Christmas, Food & Stuff, friends! I hope you enjoy lots of tasty treats and happy times with loved ones.
Warmly,
Grace
