Cranberry Toffee Oatmeal Cookies: Your Winning Cookie Recipe

I am about to share a very special cookie recipe. These cookies have been called "Joanne's Cookies" in three different countries and are probably the cookies that garner me the greatest compliments all around. This will be your go-to cookie recipe, any time you have to make cookies for a special occasion.

I started making these cookies 10 years ago. I saw them on the "Martha Stewart Show" and was so struck by the the ingredients that I ran to grab a pad and rapidly wrote long hand the recipe. I stared at the recipe for one night and the next day set out to get the ingredients. I was not disappointed in the results and neither were my three roommates (guinea pigs). They are a chewy cookie, a buttery cookie, a rich cookie with a great texture from the oatmeal.

I started out with Martha's original recipe, but I have gone and made a few minor changes of my own - mostly ingredient changes. I have to say that I prefer MY version to Martha's (and I even made hers with $20 Vahlrona chocolate) and most will find my version easier to make in terms of ingredient sourcing.

My friends have taken this recipe, gone out into the wide wide world and made them, and suddenly these cookies have a new name - they become "Cathy's cookies" or "Halim's cookies" or "Betty's cookies" and they are no longer "Joanne's cookies." That is the power of these cookies - if you make them, they will be named after you. After eating one of "your" cookies, people will wax eloquent about your baking skills, your personality, and your beauty. These cookies will transform you.

My only problem with this cookie is that they do require an electric mixer. Do NOT attempt to make these by hand because no one (except for some super hero) has the arm strength to beat all the ingredients together, let alone cream butter and sugar until it is "light and fluffy."

However, I do encourage you to make these cookies and give them a try - you will find soon enough that you have a cookie that is named after you - and I won't even resent you for the name change. Go out, and claim a cookie recipe for your own. I hope one day, some stranger will offer me the same cookie and it will be called something else, not "Joanne's cookies."

Note
I often make the dough, mold them into logs, and refrigerate them to bake in the future, just a few at a time. You do NOT have to bake them all right then and there, and in fact, having some cookie dough on standby in your fridge makes for easy, spontaneous dessert making when you have the need.

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart's Original Recipe)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup toffee pieces, (5 1/2 ounces) OR 4 toffee bars coarsely chopped. (if you use the toffee bars reduce your chocolate chips by 1/4 cup.)

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking soda, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add egg, and mix on high speed to combine. Add vanilla extract; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour a bit at a time on a low speed until well combined. Add oatmeal, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine.

Divide dough into three equal portions, and roll into logs using plastic wrap, approximately 1 1/2 inches in diameter. To bake, cut logs into 3/4-inch pieces. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and transfer to a baking rack to cool.

Printable recipe