Holiday Cranberry Cookies
By: Four Seasons Ho...
Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009 - 9:22am

Ingredients




3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups steel cut oats
1 1/2 cups toasted hazelnuts
2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cranberries
Zest of one orange

Preparation

1 Preheat the oven to 375° 2 Toast the nuts for 4 to 6 minutes on a baking sheet. The skins can be removed when they’ve cooled slightly by putting them in towel and rubbing them. Cut the nuts in half or coarsely chop them. 3 Using a mixer, cream together the butter, the sugars and the vanilla. 4 Beat in the milk and egg. 5 Stir in the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. 6 Add the oats. 7 Gently stir in the nuts, chopped cranberries and orange zest. 8 Cover baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a small ice cream scoop or a measuring tablespoon – 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. 9 Bake for 15 to 18 minutes – ovens vary. 10 Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes and then put them on racks until they are completely cooled

About


Note: This recipe was submitted by Jan Lightner to the Four Seasons Hotel Seattle's Ultimate Holiday Cookie Contest.
These are the ultimate holiday cookies (Recipe attached) because:
They are colorful - red cranberries, bits of orange zest
They are both chewy and crunchy
They have just the right amount of sweetness
These disappear first when I offer the ten or twelve kinds of cookies I bake for the holidays
Loved equally by adults and children
Can be made ahead and frozen for later use (this only works if other family members are unaware of their existence)
The cranberries and hazelnuts or close to being local - can we pretend that Oregon is a southern extension of Washington?
The ingredients are not exactly seasonal but the nuts do ripen in the fall and the cranberries are more plentiful in the stores this time of year
Everyone without a nut allergy loves them
Try the recipe - the cookies will speak for themselves

Comments:
David Hutson

I'm SO making these this year. :)  sounds great.