12 Days of Cooking: Double Chocolate and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I have a cooking confession to make: I am really bad at making cookies. I really don't know why. It's not like they're the hardest things to make, but I think I've made two or three successful batches of cookies in my life. The rest have been disasters. It's like some kind of mental block. And it's not for lack of trying, believe me.

Previous cookie attempts have turned out burnt, undercooked, far too brittle, too cake-like, and too spread-out. So you can understand my nerves when I decided to include a cookie recipe in 12 days of cooking. But... they were a triumph!!! It's pathetic that I'm so happy about this, when 5 year old kids churn out amazing cookies all the time. However, this is a personal achievement so allow me to bask in warm glow of the oven for a while.

This recipe, adapted from this one from Bon Appetit, is kind of different from previous cookie recipes I've attempted. It seems like it's basically a cake recipe, but with less egg and baking soda instead of baking powder. But since it worked for me, I'm going to try using it with different flavour configurations.

Anyway, on to the cookie. It's basically an oatmeal cookie with dark and white chocolate and cranberries. I remember being surprised that the recipe called for fresh cranberries rather than dried, but they really worked. They added tartness to the sweetness of the chocolate, and turned really fudgey in texture in the oven. But, I guess if you don't have fresh or frozen cranberries, dried ones will work fine. I'd probably reduce the amount of sugar a little though.

Please try this cookie - If I can do it, anyone can.

Double Chocolate and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 20
(adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine)


150g butter, softened at room temperature
80g caster sugar
70g brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
100g oats
100g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
100g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces
60g fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, chopped into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy and smooth, either in an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon and a big bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

Combine the flour, salt and baking soda in another bowl. Stir into the butter, sugar and egg mixture and stir until well combined. Next, stir in the oats, both types of chocolate and the cranberries.

Using a big tablespoon or an ice-cream scoop, place evenly-sized spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the tray, leaving about 5cm in between each cookie. I managed to fit 6 onto one tray each time.

Bake each batch for 15 minutes, until they're golden brown but still fudgy in the centre. Let cool on a cooling rack.

[If you want them to look a little fancier, you can melt 50g of white chocolate and use a spoon to drizzle it over the cookies]