Saturday, December 12, 2009

Hello Cookie: White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies




Here is a great idea for holiday giving.  Actually, anything with cranberries reminds me of Christmas, and combined with white chocolate, and in shortbread form, well, all I can picture are snowmen with beady red eyes and a carrot nose.

While I'm on the topic, why is shortbread considered such a Christmas thing?  I may have to spend couple of hours later looking it up...  Anyway, I made these cookies to give to the girlies at Ellie's lunch last week.  They were made even more sweet with the addition of decorated tags, courtesy of my extensive scrapbooking stash.  Details further on.

These are a very 'short' cookie, with the smoothness of white chocolate and colourful specks of cranberries throughout.  Take a bite and imagine bells jingling and snowmen melting on the lawn.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies
makes about 60 small cookies

Ingredients
250g butter, at room temperature
125g (3/4 cup) icing sugar mixture
1 tsp vanilla essence
300g (2 cups) plain flour
75 g (1/2 cup) dried cranberries (craisins), coarsely chopped
100g white chocolate, finely chopped

Method
1.  Preheat oven to 106 deg C.  Line baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2.  Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl until very pale and creamy.  Beat the mixture until it's almost white in colour or it won't incorporate the flour.
3.  Stir in the flour, cranberries and chocolate.  Mix until the dough comes together.  If the weather is warm and the dough is sticky, you may need to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before continuing.
4.  Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut. Place about 3cm apart on the baking trays. Flatten slightly with a fork.
5.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden.  Cool on trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
6.  These cookies will last for about 1 week in an airtight container.

Recipe from Good Taste magazine (Dec 2008)


Ingredients: Craisins, butter, plain flour, vanilla essence, icing sugar mixture, white chocolate


The colour of the cranberries is so intense!


As always, I ended up with so many cookies.  The original recipe says 'makes 35', so how come I end up with 60? 



I placed some cookies in a cupcake liner and wrapped them in cellophane paper.  Then I tied them with ribbon and attached a tag. The tag was made using a Stampin' Up snowflake stamp (with glitter glued on for sparkle).  The scallop background is of Basic Grey paper.


16 comments:

  1. Oh, I love the tags! There's nothing much about stationery that I don't love, actually, but I don't have the patience for scrapbooking unfortunately =(

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  2. You are so creative with your packaging! I love the little tags and the cookies! YUM!

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  3. These are stunning! I am stealiing this recipe for a lunch party. It does make very lovely gifts to bring home.

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  4. They look like delicious cookies - and I love how you packaged them up. I bet everyone was happy to get them!

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  5. Very artistic packaging, and I like the red and white Christmas in the cookies!

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  6. Ah, Christmas in a cookie, with perfect packaging to boot :)

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  7. Thanks so much for the cookies! they are so mooreish.. I couldn't stop munching on them.

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  8. omg! These look so, so nice! Just the thought of the shortness of the cookie makes my mouth water in anticipation :)

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  9. Love cranberries! These looks stunning- I can tell they're nicely buttery hehe.

    Did your kitty manage to steal a piece?

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  10. Ooh those snowflake tags are divine Belle! :o And the cookies sound lovely too-white chocolate and cranberry is definitely a winning combo :D

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  11. They look and sound delicious. I love cranberries too.

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  12. can i replace white choc with normal choc? i can't find cranberries here. can i replace it with raisins and cherries?

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  13. hi mlle delicieuse - I love all things paper and can spend ages in Officeworks. I wish I could use up all the stuff I've bought!

    hi Trissa - thanks, I enjoy making pretty little things.

    hi Penny - oh good, I'm sure they will turn out well!

    hi Agnes - I hope everyone liked them, too!

    hi Arwen - yes, it's most appropriate that the red and white in the cookies match the season!

    hi Conor - thanks for the compliment!

    hi Ellie - you're most welcome!

    hi Simon - the cookies are definitely 'short' but so moreish, too!

    hi Adrian - hehe, no Tabitha cat isn't into sweet things. Fish, on the other hand...

    hi Lorraine - the snowflake stamp is my favourite (this year!). I've used it on my Christmas cards, too.

    hi Lori - thanks! Cranberries are lovely, aren't they?

    hi i luv baking - by all means replace the white choc with milk or dark. I think they'd go really well with cherries - yum!

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  14. Hi there! Lovely cookies, my boyfriend loves white chocolate and these look utterly tempting. Are they crunchy/crispy throughout or chewy/cakey? We prefer a hard cookie/shortbread, many thanks! :)))

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  15. hi Anonymous - yes, white chocolate in a cookie is brilliant. These cookies are more soft than crisp, though more like a shortbread than a cookie. Hope like them :)

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