C is for Chunky Cranberry Cookies

Have you seen those gifts that come layered in mason jars?  I've spotted cookie doughs, brownie mixes, bean soups, instant cappuccinos, and even corn bread given as a present with a note and directions to use whenever you're ready.  It's a great idea and a nice way to gift food without forcing a meal or baked goods on someone.  I really like this idea for giving a jar of M&M cookie mix to friends that might mix up a batch of cookies for Santa around the holidays.  What a quick & easy way to include kids in the cookies-for-Santa process!    

A fellow teaching friend gave me a mason jar filled with cookie dough ingredients layered beautifully.  It came with a sweet little card and the steps to make her "cranberries in the snow" cookies.  It was the quickest cookie recipe I've ever tossed together because I only had to add butter, an egg, and vanilla extract.  She had already included flour, baking soda, salt, oats, sugar, cranberries, white and dark chocolate chips, and walnuts in the jar.  So simple and so sweet!  

The cookies were absolutely delicious and even Peter, who hates nuts in his desserts, grabbed a few warm cookies to enjoy.  I took the chunky cookies with me to a potluck dinner with some friends and folks were eating them along with the appetizers!  They couldn't even wait until the meal was over to try them!

Because the cookies were filled with so many chunky delicious ingredients, I realized that baking them on a cookie sheet made them somewhat brittle and breakable.  Even with a gentle hand, some of the cookies were breaking apart when I tried to take them off the cookie sheet.   I wanted to preserve all that chunky goodness!  I decided to scoop the batter into my mini muffin tin and the final product was a real success.  I had thick, chewy hunks of cookie that were perfectly tender and soft in the middle but cooked enough around the outside to give them a solid shape.  I will be cooking more chunky cookies this way.  Give it a shot!  

Chunky Cranberry Cookies
from Sara Gibson

1 1/8 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. rolled oats, uncooked
1/3 c. white sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. white or dark chocolate baking chips
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Layer the dry ingredients into a mason jar and attach baking directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.  Using a mixer, beat the butter until creamy and add egg and vanilla.  Add contents of the jar and mix until well blended.  Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.