I learned something really important this past week -- just because you've taken a photo for Christmas cards doesn't mean you've sent Christmas cards. That's similar to something I've learned other years -- knowing what kind of cookies you're going to make doesn't mean you have cookies.
At least I learn from my mistakes. Next year I will have cards printed earlier. This year I'm learning from that cookie thing. Eight different kinds are now living in the freezer, which YAY! I still have a lot of work left to go, but I might actually get around to all of the cookies for once.
A good start is that I got around to these.
White chocolate. Cranberries. Together. YES.
The long of the short is that I found this recipe and thought I should try it. The only thing is that I needed to use up a bunch of cranberry sauce. I maybe made about twice as much as necessary for Friendsgiving. Um, yeah. I made a LOT of cranberry sauce. It happens.
My only complaint about the recipe is that the cookies spread, which means the cranberries (or jelly, if you bother to follow Pillsbury's directions correctly), leak out of their perfect little home. They end up tasting just fine (better than fine, actually), but the pretty factor takes a hit.
It's a good thing the white chocolate on top is such a show stopper. It kind of saves the whole production.
White Chocolate Cranberry Thumbprints
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup prepared cranberry sauce or jelly (To make cranberry sauce, I use 1 cup of grove-style-all-of-the-pulp orange juice, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 package of fresh cranberries. Everything goes in a pot together and gets boiled until the cranberries explode.)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt the 1 cup of white chocolate chips in the microwave. I found it simplest to put them in a glass measuring cup and to microwave them 30 seconds. Then I stirred them up and threw them back in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until they were liquefied.
3. Toss the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Wipe the sides of the bowl with a spatula and then mix some more. Now add the melted white chocolate and beat that future cookie dough.
4. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
5. Slowly add the flour mixture to the other bowl of fun and beat with an electric mixer. Keep adding until everything is mixed together.
6. Take a small spoonful of dough and roll it into a ball. Place the cookie ball on a parchment covered cookie sheet then press a measuring spoon or your thumb or whatever to make a little dent in the cookie. Fill that dent with cranberries or jelly.
7. Repeat until you have a cookie sheet filled with cookies. Remember the part where I told you that these spread? I wasn't lying. Leave at least an inch between cookies.
8. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are very lightly browned.
9. Allow to cool completely before decorating with a little extra white chocolate.
10. Melt a little white chocolate in an icing bag and trim the tip off of the bag. Drizzle white chocolate all over those cookies. Good job.