by In a perfect world, my biscuit tin would be constantly stocked with homemade biscuits and cookies, ready for those moments when I sit down to my afternoon cup of tea or when friends and neighbours drop by unexpectedly. Unfortunately, my full-time job often prevents the opportunity for frequent baking during the week, something which I try to make up for over the weekend.
I know that dried cranberries are available throughout the year, but somehow it seems more fitting to use them when Christmas is around the corner. I started off making a simple shortbread and then added my current seasonal favourites – dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, oats and lemon zest. The following recipe is the result of my experiment.
The lemon zest brings a bright, zingy flavour to the biscuits which I liked, and the oats provide added texture and crunch, though you are welcome to leave them out.
As luck would have it, I had friends pop by the following day for an afternoon tea. I was only too happy to reach for the biscuit tin, grateful that it was well-stocked. 🙂
Cranberry, White Chocolate and Oat Biscuits
Ingredients
- 200 g unsalted butter, softened
- 100 g icing sugar, (powdered sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon, zested
- 200 g plain flour, (all-purpose flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 50 g rolled oats
- 50 g dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- 100 g white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F (without fan).
- Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Cream the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the flour and baking powder.
- Next add the rolled oats, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.
- Mix everything together to form a dough.
- Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into small balls.
- Place the balls of dough on the baking tray and flatten them slightly.
- The biscuits will spread as they bake so leave some space between each piece of dough.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and leave the biscuits on the tray for 4-5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
Kitchen Notes
- OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
I love the tea cups and the saucer that has enough space to place one biscuit.
Gorgeous photos.
I live in the same ideal world as you. Who knows , we might be neighbours!
Thank you, Anita! If we were neighbours, I hope your biscuit tin would always be well-stocked because I would be visiting quite often 😉
They’re so beautiful!!
Have a nice week
Manu
Thanks, Manu!
Stop it! I am still thinking about the cinnamon and date slice. I feel a baking weekend coming on. Thanks for the inspiration. Those cookies look de-vine!!
LOL! I am trying to get through a back-log of posts before the end of the year, so brace yourself 😉 Isn’t it great to make baking plans for the weekend when it’s only Monday?
Glad to hear you are getting a backlog of post off your plate!
Pretty flavours! A little citrusy zing aways goes nicely with white chocolate.
Hello! Indeed, I think the lemon cuts through some of the sweetness of the white chocolate. I love this combination!
I love the look and sound of these! I just nver know my way around oats Creme! Which one are the ‘Rolled’ ones?
Hi Sam! Eek, I’m not an expert on this but I think the “rolled” oats are the flat ones and which are sometimes called “oatmeal”. It’s the type you use in bircher-muesli? …
Not sure if that explanation was of much help! But here is a helpful link 🙂 http://www.foodsubs.com/GrainOats.html
Gorgeous pictures Creme and the cookies sound lush!
These sound lovely – I’m not usually one for white chocolate but here I imagine it works well. I am sooo with you on trying to use ingredients in their right season even when they’re available year-round: makes them feel more special !
I also thought I wasn’t that keen on white chocolate until I tried Green & Black’s organic white chocolate one day – I had to force myself to not eat the whole bar in one sitting! White chocolate can be quite sweet but it takes me back to my childhood and the days of Milkybars 🙂
such a beautiful blog! thank you for visiting ours!
I so hear you. With a full time job and a toddler to look after, I rarely have time to bake. 🙁 But so glad that you have squeezed in some time so you could share this delightful little cookie with us. Just a perfect little treat, no? 🙂
Oh I really admire your time management skills in balancing a full-time job, a young family AND a blog! It’s a shame that we don’t get to bake as much as we would like, but that could be a good thing for the waistline 😉
Ooooh, as luck would have it I just brought home some white choc chips from the US. Now should i make a tin for jo’s new work colleagues or mine?!?
Lovely post and gorgeous photos creme, I’m looking forward to catching up on all your lovely posts.
These are great! I just made these for my co-workers & they are absolutely yum. They will love them, thank you!
Oh thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you like them !
Its my first time here at your blog! And I just made these cookies and they are AMAZING 🙂 thank you so much for the recipe!
Thought about freezing cookie dough and then you can cook it during the week when you want fresh ones?
I agree that’s a great idea. Unfortunately, we have a really tiny freezer, the size of one you find in a bar fridge. If we had a bigger freezer, I would definitely be freezing lots of cookie dough!
Hi, looks absolutely yummy! are they crispy or chewy cookies? l
Looking for a crunchy crispy version of the oatmeal cookie.
I would describe these as more crunchy than chewy, though much depends on how thick you make the cookies and for how long you bake them. I like my cookies on the crunchy side also and, after removing the tray from the oven, I tend to leave them on the tray for a good 5 minutes or so to crisp up. I hope this helps.
This looks amazing! I cannot wait to give it a try!