When you’re craving something sweet, there is nothing like a homemade cookie, warm from the oven. But in this day and age, we’re all way to busy to make that happen. Right?
Wrong! Simply save this recipe for a Sunday afternoon, make a big old batch and follow the instructions below for freezing. Then when you want a fresh batch (for guests or neighbours or nieces and nephews) you can just throw these puppies in the oven and you’re off to the races.
Below is my absolute favourite go-to cookie recipe that impresses the pants off just about anyone – plus unlike store-bought cookies they are soft, chewy, and full of whatever you put in them. Enjoy!
Toffee Cranberry Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe)
Ingredients:
- 375ml (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 5ml (1 tsp) baking soda
- 250ml (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 185ml (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 185ml (3/4 cup) brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 5ml (1 tsp) pure vanilla extract
- 375ml (1 1/2 cups) rolled oats (be careful not to buy instant oatmeal, just Quaker Quick Oats)
- 250ml (1 cup) dried cranberries
- 250ml (1 cup) toffee bits (Hershey’s Chipits Skor brand give the best results)
Sift together flour and baking soda onto a sheet of waxed paper and set aside. In the large bowl of your beautiful KitchenAid mixer (oh, just me then?) cream butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on high speed to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Turn on your oven to 350 degrees. I usually do this about halfway through my prep since I don’t like the idea of running my oven for an extra 15 minutes to “pre-heat.” However, if your oven is slow in getting to temperature, go ahead and turn it on at the beginning. Whatever works for you and your electricity bill!
Rolling the waxed paper in on itself like a funnel, add the sifted flour a bit at a time on very low speed until well-combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the oats, cranberries and toffee pieces, mixing to combine with a serious wooden spoon and Obama arms.
Using a medium cookie scoop like this one, drop dough heaps onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. If you don’t have a medium-sized and a small-sized cookie scoop, buy them now! You can get them at my favourite fine foods and gadgets shop, Eden West.
Freezing instructions: After you’ve dropped the dough onto the baking sheets using the cookie scoop, place the sheets into the freezer. Leave them overnight to freeze solid. Next day, put the frozen dough balls into a zipper plastic bag and seal it up. When you want cookies, take them out of the freezer and thaw at room temperature on a baking sheet for at least two hours. Don’t forget to label your freezer bags. In theory, they’d last for a couple of months frozen, but trust me, that isn’t going to happen.
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
mmm… going to try them tomorrow! :)
They are so easy to make — if you lived next door, I’d bring you a bag of Skor toffee bits. I think I have 4 bags in my pantry right now!