My Cranberry Cookies-A Christmas Miracle

It all happened because my niece brought me three bags of fresh cranberries when I needed only a handful of those festive berries to float in a holiday punch (which in all honesty I forgot to do). My cousin pilfered a bag on her way out the door hoping to relieve me from the pressure of refrigerator space insecurity. And I was left with two entire bags of fresh cranberries that I knew I couldn’t let go to waste.

It was the day of Old Whalers’ tree lighting that I decided I should try my hand at baking some homemade cookies and those cranberries called my name. I was due there in a little more than an hour when I quickly googled ‘recipes for fresh cranberry cookies’ and found a thousand or two possibilities. Being the latent baker that I am, I chose the recipe with the fewest ingredients and quickly got to work. I ran into new concepts like ‘dough falling in ribbons’ and eggs working as a ‘leavening agent’.

You see, cooking, baking and making were never in my toolbox. Growing up in a large family you merely ate what was put in front of you. There was no discussion about the culinary arts, meticulous preparation, or elaborate presentation. We didn’t talk about the health benefits of foreign spices or stimulating our taste buds with a combination of flavors that were complex, and often unexpected. Unless of course we’re talking about the celery in our tuna fish sandwiches on white bread.

My mom was a very dependable and gracious cook….. for eight of us, three meals a day, 365 days a year – I remember her only complaint may have been thinking of what to cook each night. We ate fresh everyday with an occasional can of beans thrown in. I went out to dinner only once growing up, at Baron’s Cover Inn when I won a gift certificate for the ‘best’ costume at the high school Halloween party. I think I was eighteen. So, I never had the opportunity to develop a discriminating palate- never seemed tuned in to all of the possibilities of taste, and texture and aroma. If food is an art form, I surely left off at play-dough.

I found the ‘Cranberry Christmas Cookie’ recipe and quickly clicked the “Skip to Recipe” button- it seems that for many online recipes you have to read through a few chapters of “War and Peace” and a dozen or two popup ads before you get to the important stuff. I gathered the 6 ingredients and got to work. Well, the dough was a bit dry but I moved forward, ignoring the unused flour along the sides of the mixing bowl- ‘oh no, had I used only two eggs instead of three?’ I checked the sink to see only four halves of egg shells there! Too late-I rolled the batter into balls and placed them onto the parchment paper lined cookies sheets. I pushed the rogue rolling cranberries back into the molded cookies, set the baking sheet in the oven and went about getting ready for the evening ahead. I seriously began to wonder if I wouldn’t have to depend on the bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies I had knowingly secured and already packed in my canvas bag.

While slipping into my new sparkly sweater, quite honestly and literally I visualized my husband’s knowing response to my cooking nightmare and a tray full of cranberry cookies still sitting on the Santa platter at the conclusion of the event. I have to admit that everyone at that church already knows that I am no pastry chef and I was resigned to the possibility of their kind and polite avoidance of my platter.

I ran off to the event, guitar in hand, while my husband waited for the cookies to cool and brought them to the church. We all sang Carols and holiday songs together in the entry way of the church as the winds blew frantically outside. It all seemed like a scene from a Hallmark Movie. The center table was aglow with a variety of wonderful cookies and treats. We welcomed Santa with jingle-bells and candy canes- went outside and counted down to the tree-lighting and welcomed in another season of light.

When we returned to the vestibule of the church, I looked over at the serving table, at my Santa platter and it was EMPTY! Every cranberry cookie was gone and there was a buzz in the room wondering who on earth baked those amazing cookies. It was me! It was the first time in all my years that my cooking was actually the cause of some excitement. Folks had a cookie wrapped in a holiday napkin, ready to take home for breakfast and a few folks even asked for the recipe. My husband declared it a Christmas miracle. It was then I realized that food is an art form- and maybe, just maybe, just like us- it doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be loved.

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Cranberry Cookies

The Recipe-

Ingredients

3 eggs (or in my case two)

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

12 oz fresh cranberries (cranberries that have been frozen work best, but cold from the fridge work as well)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 5-7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The eggs work as your leavening agent in this recipe, so do not skip this step. This mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.

Add the soft butter and vanilla; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout.

Use a 2 tablespoon scoop or a spoon to portion out the cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place only six cookies on the baking sheet.

Bake for 18 minutes, until the cookies have puffed up and turned golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.