Foodie Friday -- Oatmeal Craisin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

A couple of weeks ago, I had a craving.

Gloomy weather does it to me as I have the urge to bake, and baking is detrimental to my weight loss efforts. So the key is to have the craving on a day when hubby had to go to work the next day and he can take the extras! Which he did.

Anyway, I was thinking how good Craisins were and that they would taste good with white chocolate chips. Lo and Behold! The good folks at Ocean Spray figured it out for me! This recipe was on the back of the mongo bag I had purchased from Sam's Club.

Excellent cookie! But man, it cost so much in WW points that I ate my one and only cookie really, really slowly.

Oatmeal Craisin White Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

2/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 ½ cup old-fashioned oats

1 ½ cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2/3 cup Craisin Dried Cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 ½ dozen cookies.

 

Tips & Tricks:

·         I used a medium cookie scoop and it made only 22 cookies with a diameter of 2-2 ½ inches.

·         I did put this into the WW recipe builder and came up with a whopping 5 WW points per cookie. Yeah . . . I ate one, but sent the remaining cookies to work with the hubby the next day.

·         I’m lazy and prefer to use parchment paper on my cookie sheets. It’s quick. It’s easy. And there is no clean up. Just toss the paper in the trash when you’re finished cooking.

·         My oven tends to be on the hot side, so I baked the cookies between 9-10 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday -- Cranberry Jelly

Every November, my mom makes cranberry jelly.

It's like the stuff you can buy in the cans, only better.

This year, her eyesight is starting to go--the woman is 91, so give her a break!--so I made the batch, well, actually three batches because my brother went to Sam's Club and bought a 3 pound bag for Mom. I suppose I'll be the designated cranberry jelly maker from now on. I'm good with that . . . as long as I get her antique chinois.

What is a chinois?

This is a chinois. Though my mom's is at least 60+ years old, probably older, bigger than this and it has its own pedestal.

This recipe is super easy. And if you don't get into the canning thing, then you can eat it immediately, or you can do what my mom does and pour melted paraffin wax over the cooled jelly. 

Cranberry Jelly

1 lb fresh cranberries
1 cup water
2 cups sugar

Rinse cranberries and place in medium saucepan, add water and boil until all the cranberries pop, about 3-5 minutes. Pour cranberries into chinois or conical colander. Press liquids/soften fruit from skin. Return the thick juice to saucepan, add sugar. Stir and bring to boil. Boil 1-2 minutes. Pour mixture into prepared jars. Let cool. Use immediately or seal according to canning instructions. 


Hints & Suggestions:

• Here's the dealio--Ocean Spray doesn't sell 1 lb bags of cranberries in the grocery store any longer. They are 12 ounces. Simply recalculate the recipe.  12 oz. cranberries, 3/4 cup water, 1 1/2 sugar. Easy-peasy.
• Cranberries contain a natural pectin, which allows the product to gel without the aid of an unsweetened gelatin product, like Knox Gelatin.
• If you don't have a chinois, then you can use mesh strainer or a large weave cheesecloth to smush the guts out of the cranberry skins.
• Cranberries stain everything. You have been warned.
• One pound of cranberries makes about 4 6-oz. jelly jars in this recipe.
• If you want to make it a sauce with the cranberry skins, then skip the smushing stage. Add everything into the pot and cook about 10 minutes.
• To change the flavor profile, you can add orange juice or cranberry juice instead of water, or use maple sugar or honey to sweeten, or zest an orange. Always taste for tartness and sweetness levels that you enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving, Peeps!