Almond and oat cookies with cranberries and white chocolate
January is almost over, but nonetheless: Happy 2019! Like everybody else, I tried to put together some new year’s resolutions, and one of them has been to blog a little bit more. Since I moved to Munich last June, the blog has definitely taken a backseat as I’ve been dealing with a new city, new job, new flat, and new friends, but now that I’ve settled in quite nicely, I definitely want to share more about my cooking and eating.
The great thing about my new flat is that the kitchen is bigger than I’ve ever had, which means Ihave been doing a lot of cooking! And although January is a time of cutting back and eating more healthy, I’ve decided to share this cookie recipe to protest all that (but to be fair, I made these in December for Christmas).
I borrowed and slightly adapted this recipe from one of my many recipe books, Ottolenghi’s “SWEET”, which is a treasure trove of sugary goodness. Having said that, these cookies don’t feel overly sweet, but rather crunchy, nutty and healthy, due to the amount of fruit, nut and oats inside. I don’t often bake, so I had to use a wine bottle as a rolling pin, and a jar lid instead of a cookie cutter, but I think they turned out just fine…
Makes around 20 cookies (depending on how much dough you eat before baking). Store in an airtight container and they’ll keep for up to two weeks (but I doubt they’ll last that long!)
- 150g whole almonds (with skin)
- 150g plain flour, plus extra for dusting and rolling
- 75g wholemeal flour
- 150g oats (rolled oats work, I used 3Bears)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 225g unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 100g sugar
- Zest of one large orange
- Juice of one large orange
- 125g dried cranberries
- 100g white chocolate, chopped into 0.5-1cm pieces
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line 2 baking trays with parchment and keep aside.
- Dry toast the almonds in a frying pan for around 10 minutes, until they give off a beautiful aroma. Set aside, and, once cooled, roughly chop them into 0.5-1cm pieces.
- Combine the butter, sugar and orange zest in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, until it’s light. Add the almonds and both flours and continue to mix on low speed until the dough comes together slightly.
- Add the orange juice, cranberries, and white chocolate, and mix for a few seconds, then tip the whole dough onto a floured service and knead it gently. Add more flour if it gets too sticky.
- Roll out the dough (with a rolling pin or a wine bottle) so that it’s around 0.5cm thick (divide into halves if it’s too large). Use a cookie cutter (or jar lid) to cut out circles and transfer the cookies to the trays.
- Bake the cookies for around 18 minutes, until they are lightly coloured, and set aside until completely cool.
Devour at your leisure!
