We do a lot of shopping at Sam's Club. Mostly because I can buy in quantities large enough to keep my family of 7 fed for more than a few days. But also because they almost always have snacks. I know, they're really samples meant to make you impulse purchase, but the kids consider them snacks and if we eat there, we don't have snack when we get home - we don't need to.
Several trips ago, one of the samples we tried was craisins. I have hated cranberries for as long as I can remember. I simply avoid them whenever possible. But one of the kids pressured me into trying one ("You can't say you don't like it if you haven't tried it, Mom") and I actually sorta liked it. Not enough to just buy a bag and eat them plain, but enough to open my mind a little. And the kids all liked them, too.
Excited by my new found interest in cranberries, I decided to buy a bag and experiment with them in place of raisins in some of my favorite recipes. After all, they're super healthy and not terribly expensive.
Tonight I made oatmeal craisin cookies - Oh my goodness, they are delicious!! I used my go-to oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and just used craisins instead of raisins, no other changes. All of the kids thought they were fabulous! So here's the recipe, adapted from Mom's Big Book of Baking (a gift from my Mom several years ago - I highly recommend this book - I've only been disappointed in one recipe and I was really looking for something specific. The recipe was good, just not quite what I was looking for.).
Oatmeal Raisin (Craisin) Cookies
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon or nutmeg, depending on what you like - I've used both with good results
2 sticks butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla, or 2 tsp imitation vanilla extract
3 C old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 C raisins, craisins or dried cherries
1 C chopped nuts, optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl. In a large mixing bowl, cream both sugars and butter until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth again. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and add the oats, fruit and nuts. Mix again, just to get everything incorporated.
Place the bowl in the fridge for no less than 10 minutes and no more than 6 hours. When you're ready, drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between cookies (these spread quite a bit and we often end up with them baking together - I just cut them apart when they're cool). Bake them for 15-17 minutes and let them cool on the baking sheet for a good 5 minutes before moving them to wire racks to cool completely.
These cookies will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days, although I've never seen them last long enough to even make it to a container...
The beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can freeze the dough for up to three months! Just make the cookies up through the refrigerating for 10 minutes. Spoon them out onto cookie sheets and put the sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then just dump them into zip-top bags or other freezer safe dishes and store in the freezer. When you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven as directed above, but bake them for 17-19 minutes.
I love having cookies in the freezer. Not only is portion control easy (just pull out the number of cookies you want to bake right then), but they're ready for last-minute gift giving, unexpected guests and crappy days when need a little pick me up but have no ambition to actually make something. I would caution you, however, to label your freezer cookies. I write the recipe name, the date I made them and the date they expire, as well as baking instructions on a 3X5 index card, then I just put the card right into the bag with the cookies.
So there you have it. Deliciousness at your fingertips!
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