Chewy Oatmeal Raisin and Cranberry Cookies

I’ve always been a chocolate chip cookie girl.  A Toll House cookie with a glass of ice cold milk was pretty hard to beat as a kid.  I wasn’t the one grabbing for the oatmeal raisin cookies, or anything with raisins in for that matter.

 So when I took a friends and family cookie poll the other day I was shocked to see that oatmeal raisin cookies came out on top.  What about the chocolate?  Well with spring break upon us and the house about to be full I decided to whip up a batch of the crowd favorite cookie – oatmeal raisin.

But I ran into a snag...no big bags or boxes of just plain raisins on the shelves!  I was shocked – that’s craziness?  A run on raisins?  Was it raisin week on the Food Network?   

Anyway, my desire to please the crowd wasn’t about to take me another store for a few cups of shriveled grapes – so, I picked up a couple of bags cranberries & raisins all mixed together and I’m glad I did.  These turned out great.  Those little cranberries and golden raisins add a different kind of sweet to the cookies.

 I will always be a chocolate chip kind of girl at heart, but these are now my second favorite!

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup rolled oats (regular oatmeal – not steel cut)

½ cup butter (1 sticks), softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup raisins

½ cup golden raisins

½ cup dried cranberries

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.   Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a large bowl.  Mix well. 

On medium speed, beat the butter, and sugars in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until well combined, 1-2 minutes.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Wipe down bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.

Mix the flour in on low speed, add the raisins and cranberries, and then mix until evenly distributed.  Using a tablespoon measure or medium ice cream scoop drop dough on cooking sheets lined with parchment paper about 3 inches apart. Press down slightly to flatten. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool on racks.  Store in an air tight container.  

It’s All Delicious Notes:  This recipe can be doubled – easily.  Also, you could throw some nuts in there as well...up to you.  Just cut back a bit on the fruit mixture – you want 1 ½ cups of any fruit/nut combo.