Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate and Ginger

Unless you are super Type A or enjoy making shared family spreadsheets (and does anyone really enjoy that?), chances are there will be some oversights or duplications in your Thanksgiving shopping. Especially when multiple people are bringing ingredients/food. Last year, for example, I somehow ended up with four bags of organic cranberries and only eight people to feed. Despite having multiple cranberry sauce fanatics at the table,  nobody is going to eat quite that much of it, especially with all the Thanksgiving standards to load up on. So I decided not to use all four bags.

But then I had a new problem – what could I do with so many cranberries? Cut to a few days post Thanksgiving, when the last slice of pie had been eaten and the glorious array of leftovers was almost gone. I wasn’t ready to give up having a kitchen stocked full of treats just yet, so I decided to make some cookies. (I mean, I needed to use those cranberries, anyway, so this was really the responsible choice, right?) Okay, maybe responsible is a bit of a stretch, but the decisions was definitely a good one. It yielded these cookies! And I’ve been waiting a whole year to share them with you.

Perfect for including at your Thanksgiving table or for munching on after the fact (people with extra cranberries, I’m looking at you!), these cookies have such a holiday flair. The tartness of the cranberries goes perfectly with the sweetness of the white chocolate and the lovely chunks of candied ginger. I’ve used finger millet flour for these, which is a darker variety of millet flour that helps temper all the sugar a bit and lends a lovely earthy quality that is perfect for the cold weather. That said, if you are unable to find finger millet flour (I order it online from Pure India Foods), you can use regular white millet flour (actually pictured above) and the cookies will still turn out. If you go this route, I would suggest cutting the sugar slightly (try a scant ½ cup) as the white variety turned out much sweeter.

A couple notes about the recipe:

-These cookies are on the sweeter side, especially if you use the white millet flour. I think the finger millet variety has the perfect sweetness level (especially once it cools down) but you can try cutting the sugar a bit if you prefer your cookies less sweet.

-I never use an electric or stand mixer for “creaming” the butter/sugar or beating in the other ingredients. A good old fork and some elbow grease is all you need.

-This recipe makes about 16 cookies.

Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate and Ginger

• ⅔ cup quinoa flakes
• ⅓ cup blanched almond flour
• ⅓ cup finger millet flour (or sub regular white millet flour)
• ⅓ cup arrowroot starch
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ⅓ cup fresh cranberries, tossed with 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup finely chopped crystalized ginger

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two sheet trays with parchment paper.

Combine the quinoa flakes, almond flour, millet flour, arrowroot starch, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter with the sugar. Beat in the egg; then the vanilla and maple syrup. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well-incorporated. Finally, stir in the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and ginger.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto the lined sheet trays, about 3½ to 4 inches apart. (These cookies spread a LOT!) You will have leftover batter after the two trays are filled and will need to bake the third tray separately, unless you have a very large oven! Bake for 12-15 minutes, until browned on the edges and mostly thinned out – they will still be delicate and soft on top but will firm up when standing. Let stand for 5-7 minutes; then use a flexible spatula to gently lift them off the tray. Do not stack them until they are completely cool. Enjoy!