Cranberry Cinna-Choc Cookies

As a learning home baker, I am constantly testing out new recipes but I hardly ever redo recipes unless they are really basic things like my cupcakes. For some random reason, the signature dish lunch at Lex's had me wishing I revisited some of my recipes so I could improve on them and adapt them. One thing that I've wanted to try for a while is a different take on my Foolproof Chocolate Chip Cookies, using cinnamon chips which I once tried out for hot cross buns.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm always wary of using white chocolate in desserts because it can be overpoweringly sweet sometimes. But the white chocolate used for these is balanced out with cinnamon and tart dried cranberries. I have had an obsession with dried cranberries ever since using them as part of my quince craisin crumble and I had a big bag of them to use up.

Cranberry Cinna-choc Cookies
(adapted from this Foolproof Choc Chip Cookie Recipe)
125g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
200g white chocolate
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used craisins)

For the cinnamon chips: The night before you make your cookies, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Stir in the ground cinnamon once the chocolate has completely melted. You can adjust the amount of cinnamon to your taste (I sprinkled extra over the top of my melted chocolate). Pour chocolate mixture evenly onto a baking tray lined with baking paper so that it is about 0.5cm thick. Leave overnight to set and then chop up into choc chips. If you can't be bothered with this step just use white chocolate chips in the recipe and stir the cinnamon in with the flour in the cookie dough.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Fold through cinna- choc pieces and cranberries.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a greased and lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold. Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further.

I was very nervous about these cookies after taking them out of the oven because they looked quite oily and lumpy. Lumpy because I was in a hurry and sort of just threw blobs of cookie dough on the sheet and then shoved it in the oven. But once they cooled and I got to taste them I stopped worrying. They taste awesome and are ridiculously moreish. Best eaten with a hot cup of tea to dip your biscuits into :)