From Drab to Fab: Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

A stack of these + a hot cup of tea = heaven!

I like cookies but of course you can’t eat them all the time. But then again if they’re made with healthy stuff like oatmeal, dried fruit and cinnamon then that sort of cancels out all the unhealthy stuff like the butter, sugar and flour right? At least that’s my excuse for making these awesome oatmeal cookies whenever I have a hankering for cookies. What makes these oatmeal cookie awesome? The orange flavored dried cranberries (which I get from Trader Joe’s), white chocolate chips and the orange rind if you have some on hand, take what would be ordinary oatmeal cookies from drab to fab!

AWESOME OATMEAL COOKIES
Makes about 4 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated orange rind (optional)
1½ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3 cups Quaker Oats
1 cup orange flavored dried cranberries
½ cup white chocolate chips

• Heat oven to 350°F
• Beat the butter with the brown and granulated sugars until creamy
• Add eggs and vanilla and the orange rind (if used), beat well
• In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, mix well
• Add combined flour mix to the wet batter, mix well
• Stir in oats, cranberries and chocolate chips
• Drop tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet
• Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown
• Cool, then remove to wire rack