White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Walnut Cookies

This cookie is your basic cookie recipe- you combine your ingredients in a butter/sugar/flour mixture, and voila- you're ready to bake. No prep work needed. The cookies turned out too sweet and hard- I felt it had too much sugar, and the recipe had these cookies baking too long... I like my cookies soft, and the baking times listed on the original recipe is too long! These cookies were also very dense- it was chockfull of Craisins, white chocolate chips, and walnuts, but not necessarily in a good way. (I did adjust the cooking times and ingredient amounts in the recipe below to reflect more accuracy.) Next time, I would like to try a soft, oatmeal version of this cookie. The only thing I did enjoy about these cookies were the tartness of the cranberries which balanced out nicely against the sweetness of the chocolate and the saltiness of the walnuts. Just OK in my book, but I will publish anyways since I feel it has potential.



Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl.
4. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy.
5. Add both sugars and beat until blended.
6. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla.
7. Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended.
8. Using spatula, stir in cranberries, white chocolate chips, and nuts.
9. For large cookies, drop dough by heaping Tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 2-1/2 inches apart. For small cookies, drop dough by level Tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 1-1/2 inches apart. (I used my medium cookie scoop.)
10. Bake cookies until just golden, about 13 minutes for large cookies and about 10-12 minutes for small cookies.
11. Cool on sheets.

Do ahead: Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.

Yield: 36 cookies (using a level, medium cookie scoop)

Source: Adapted from Bon Appetit