White Chocolate and Cranberry Biscuits

Baking didn't use to hold much appeal to me as I felt the discipline required would leave me feeling the heat of the kitchen. All that strict measuring, weighing, proving, whipping-until -'soft peaks' -form, etc just sounded oh so technical. I love to cook with gay abandon- another pinch of this and that, just throw that in, substitute this for that, oh yes- needs more madeira, brandy, red wine! Taking on that sort of attitude with baking usually means sunken cakes and very weird-tasting biscuits. Until recently, I have left that side of culinary responsibility on my husband as he had more patience and is actually the one with a sweet tooth anyway.

These days, I am slowly discovering the joys of baking. One thing now I know- baking is a lot more fun when there's help from another set of hands, no matter how small they are.



These cookies always turn out lovely and I always get asked for the recipe.
The original recipe was actually for white chocolate and macadamias but since more and more people I know have developed an intolerance for nuts, I have substituted dried cranberries. I also use a bit of condensed milk, which I think makes them more chewy.


250g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c white chocolate chips
1 1/2 c dried cranberries
a pinch of salt

1. Preheate oven to 180 deg C
2. Cream butter with sugar until pale. Beat in the condensed milk.
3. Lightly whisk the eggs and vanilla together and add to the butter mix.
4. Add in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
5. Add the cranberries, choc chips and oats. Mix until well-combined.
6. Form gold-sized balls of the dough and place on lined baking trays. Slightly flatten with your fingers.
7. Bake for 10 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool on trays for a few minutes (the biscuits will be very soft when you take them out of the oven).
9. Once firm, the biscuits can be transferred onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.