White Chocolate Cranberry Almond Cookies--Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

It’s finally time to reveal my cookies from the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!! Thanks to Julie and Lindsay, over 600 food bloggers from across the country (and even across oceans!) joined forces to gift each other with delicious treats this holiday season. Each of us was tasked with baking three batches of one cookie, then sending a dozen to each of our three designated matches. In return, we received three different batches of cookies from three other bloggers! Oh, the excitement. The sugar high!

Yeesh, these cookies are a mouthful. I thought about calling them “white chocranalmond cookies,” but I figured that’d be less than ideal for SEO. (Hah.) The idea for these was sparked by a holiday cookie gift my family received from neighbors when I was in middle school. It was the first time I’d ever had a cookie that melded white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and macadamia nuts–and holy moly, was I sold.

Little did I know that macadamia nuts are hella expensive. And also surprisingly difficult to buy in bulk (at least in my neck of the woods)! Thus…some substitution happened. It’s how the greats do it, I’m told.

(I have had baked goods coming out of my ears in recent weeks. In addition to baking three dozen of these bad boys for the GFBCS, I also volunteered at the New York Holiday Cookie Swap held at Hill Country BBQ on December 4. Bloggers and foodies from all over the metropolitan area brought oodles of cookies to swap, all while raising money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Not only did I get a chance to reconnect with many of the wonderful bloggers I met at Pie Party Live, but I came home with a full tummy of delicious BBQ and a Glad container full of cookie spoils!)

I hope that Lauren, Leslie, and Beth enjoyed these while chocolate cranberry almond cookies! I certainly enjoyed sampling the extra few that I dubbed my “reject” cookies (disproportionate amounts of cranberries to almonds simply did not make the GFBCS cut, obviously).

Cranberry Almond White Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from Real Simple and AllRecipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream together softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed. Once creamy and fluffy (try to stop yourself from just eating the butter and sugar [oh wait, is that just me?]), mix in slightly beaten eggs and vanilla.

3. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet until just incorporated. The batter will be very sticky!

5. Fold in chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and almonds.

6. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.

7. Form balls of dough about 3 inches across and place on an ungreased cookie sheet (or you could use a silpat if you’re fancy like that). Keep bowl of dough in the fridge while the other batches are baking.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are just starting to brown (they’ll continue cooking a little when you take them out of the oven).

9. Let rest on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

And check out the delicious morsels I was lucky enough to receive!

Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies from Vanessa of Life Undeveloped

Chocolate Crinkles with Cinnamon and Chili from Kate of Spread the Love

Oatmeal Cranberry Cinnamon Chip Cookies AND Homemade Salted Caramels from Nicole of Marvelous Misadventures of a Foodie

It’s been so fun watching the various tweets and Instagram pictures of the cookie swap over the past few weeks. Getting a glimpse of what my fellow bloggers have been baking and receiving has been nearly as exciting as waiting for my own shipments. I can’t wait until next year’s swap–I’m already plotting my cookie of choice!

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