Sweet, salty, chocolaty, with a hint of citrus are the flavors that are carefully balanced in this cookie recipe. The craisins, pistachios, oatmeal, and chocolate chips create a cookie that is soft, chewy, and filled with flavor – don’t let their simple appearance fool you!
I have made these cookies each Christmas for over five years now. They have become a part of the Christmas food tradition in our family, so much so that I now make DOZENS of these cookies to share with family and friends. In fact, my brother-in-law even requests his own bag of these cookies as part of his Christmas gift so he knows he won’t miss out on them (they go fast in our house) and so he doesn’t have to share his private stash!
I’ve decided to enter my first local cookie recipe contest (read more here, and you can vote here) and I immediately knew the Orange, Cranberry, Pistachio, Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe would be PERFECT to share with everyone. I hope you and your loved ones enjoy these cookies as much as my family and friends do!
Happy baking and Happy Holidays!
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cup butter – softened
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar – firmly packed
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup old/fashioned oat meal (uncooked)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp orange zest (or dried orange peel)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup craisons (soak in 2 tbsp orange juice for 30 min)
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup pistachios
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
3. Lightly cream butter in a large bowl (I use a Kitchen aid stand mixer); add sugars and beat on medium for 2 minutes
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition
5. Add vanilla and lemon juice, mix well
6. In a separate bowl stir together flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt, orange zest and cinnamon
7. Add to the creamed butter mixture and stir well to blend
8. Add craisons, chocolate chips and pistachios; stir to combine
9. Using a 2 oz ice cream (or cookie dough scoop), drop the batter on to the parchment lined cookie sheet
10. Leave 2-4 inches between each cookie (they will spread out)
11. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges
12. Remove from parchment, cool on wire racks
A version of this recipe was passed along to my mother-in-law about ten ago and I’ve tweaked it here and there to make it my own over the years.
Savory Sweet Eats 
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