Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Chip

Vacation is the best. Coming back to the reality of the working world is not. I missed my beach chair hardcore last week, and unfortunately didn’t get any mid-week baking done during the week because I was playing catch-up with work, and trying to make it rain. Don’t worry though, my coworkers got their orange creamsicle cookies last Monday and they were a huge hit to say the least. One coworker who will remain anonymous, actually stacked up four in his hand while standing at my desk and tasting one. Needless to say, I was getting lots of requests for more orange zest cookies.

I was trying to think what would be a good refreshing cookie combo that included orange zest again. Inspiration struck when I was driving to dinner with my parents Friday night and we drove past some Cranberry bogs in East Harwich. Bingo bango, cranberries was a logical choice. As a side note, Donnie Wahlberg sat next to us at dinner Friday night which was pretty cool … except I would have not known who he was if people weren’t taking photos and asking for autographs. Anyways, I digress. Back to the cookies. These Orange Cran cookies are the same recipe as the Orange Creamsicle just with 2 cups of crasins added in. Fresh cranberries are better for  muffins, and Craisins are perfect for cookie baking.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Zest from 1 large orange (approx 2 tablespoons)
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 2 cups Craisins (or any brand of dried cranberries)

Step 1: Cream together butter and sugars. Blend in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients.

Step 2:  Mix in the dry ingredients. Add in one bag of white chocolate chips.

Step 3: Zest one large orange. Last weekend after my almost-ruining-my-manicure-and-grating-off-my-fingers debacle with the cheese grater, Skip (aka Dad) bought a nice zester for the house. If you don’t own a zester, go out and get one immediately. It’s night and day from the cheese grater. Mom was on zesting duty for this batch and did a stellar job. Also, on a grosser note, I realized sometimes nail salons use cheese graters during pedicures … I will never look at a cheese grater the same … or use one again. Thank god for my zester.

Step 4: Add in two cups of dried cranberries and mix well.

Step 5: Roll even-size balls of dough and place into a parchment-lined or sil-pat baking sheet. Press down lightly with your fingers. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

This cookie is seriously amazing. According to Skip, this is the best cookie he has ever tasted. That’s a lofty statement from a powerful guy, but I’d have to agree that these cookies are pretty darn good. They taste like Christmas and Summer.  I don’t think these will be lasting long tomorrow morning once the secret cookie distro list email goes out.

Most importantly since my parents were driving back home yesterday, I gave a special container of cookies for them to give to my Grandpa who lives back in Connecticut. I’ll dedicate another post one day all about the man, the myth, the legend who is my Grandpa, but I had to include this picture that my mom sent over after making a special delivery. He’s been heckling me on the phone for weeks for cookies, and I can tell you that these did not last long! I think these would have gotten me at least three giant steps as leverage back in the days of Mother May I on my grandparents back porch. As always, comments, suggestions, or feedback are always welcome at thesaltedcookie@gmail.com.