White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies:Gift Style

I am not all that fond of cooking, but I love baking! I can't really say why but I am far more comfortable with a beautiful bowl full of flour, baking soda, and salt than I am with 5 minute rice.  I enjoy spending time with my 2 year-old, she loves dumping all the measuring cups in the bowl for me.  She gets excited when I tell her we are going to make cookies and runs over to grab her large step stool and stands still long enough for me to tie her apron around her neck. My little cookie rock star! She isn't always as helpful, I did have to retrieve a small Little People puppy and cow from my canister of sugar and she insisted upon feeding baking soda to her horse. <3


I had made this recipe before but just wasn't a fan so I made it my own. I am in love! The white chocolate is so much more of a compliment to the cranberries than the semi-sweet chocolate the original recipe called for. They are far better room-temp not fresh from the oven, the chips firm up and are amazing. I will include the recipe on the tail end of this post.


The reason for baking cookies ( as if one actually needs a reason) is that my mother's birthday is this weekend. We already have a wonderful gift for her but I wanted something to do something fun and creative.  So we made cookies for Nana! To personalize the gift and not just hand them over wrapped in a nest of tinfoil or a few sandwich bags I grabbed a lovely gift box from Target and went to work using Photoshop and Shabby Princess digital scrapbook paper. Good times and printer frustration ensued and this is how it looks completed.

I used a small paper punch to slide some dark twine around the box to attach it. The completed print is 5x5. I took some photos of my daughter and me while making the cookies to add a really personal touch to the box, I know my mother will love the silly face my daughter is making, this was I believe my 8th attempt at a photo so  I was pleased she was looking at the camera and not trying to eat flour.  I made up a fun name for our pretend bakery, Peachie Keen Bakery, and it now we look super fancy. I think we might have started a tradition or at least a fun way to give cookies to my family as gifts.
To keep the cookies fresh while waiting to be enjoyed, I put them in storage bags and added some tissue to make the finished product pretty.

I believe it holds about 18 cookies, if I was more patient I would have worked longer to get more cookies in there but, they are tasty so I kept some. Ok, I kept a lot!
Want to make your own cookie box label?  Right click and save! You can either open it in Word and add your own wording or grab your prettiest pen/marker and get a writing.

Shabby Princess Papers 

Enjoy!

Now, on to the recipe.


White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Yields appx 3 dozen.


1-1/2 cups  flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2-1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup butter or margarine, room temp.
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. honey
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups white chocolate chips
1-1/2 dried cranberries




Preheat to 350 degrees.
Blend the flour, baking soda, salt and together in a medium bowl. Stir in the oatmeal.


Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and add the honey and vanilla, beat until mixed well. Blend in the flour mixture one cup at a time. Hand mix in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.


Drop one tablespoon of dough on to a  lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until slightly browned, about 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool some before attempting to transferring to cooling rack.