I am massively late with this post, and a thousand apologies for that. Life has been hectic these past few weeks, but in a generally good way - work is taking off, the kids are on school holidays, we've had a couple of weddings to attend and Roast, Simmer & Bake has an exciting new project on the horizon... stay tuned for more news on that very, very soon!
No matter how mad one's schedule gets though, it is always nice to pause for minute, to take a breath, enjoy the sunshine on your face, look out at the garden, have a cup of hot tea or coffee... and if you do, then you need these cookies to go with.
This is one of my favourite cookie recipes - one of those recipes that you return to again and again because it never fails to produce great results and, sometimes you need that certainty in your life. It is a recipe from Nigella Lawson, the Domestic Goddess herself. I came across it in Nigella Christmas, but I make it all year round, when I need something sweetly comforting to accompany my afternoon tea. These cookies have the added charm of keeping well for days, with a dough that is easy to whip up and freeze in advance for those situations when people drop in unexpectedly at tea o'clock. Few things bring as much satisfaction as being able to produce a batch of cookies, fresh from the oven when you have unscheduled visitors - not in a smug way, but in a lovely, placid, life-can-throw-anything-at-me-and-I-can-still-handle-it-and-produce-cookies kind of way that makes one feel very much in control of one's own destiny.
So what are the ingredients that produce a cookie that deserves that kind of introduction? Dried cranberries, white chocolate and macadamia nuts are the magic trio. Nestling in an oat-based cookie dough, the cranberries' tart, bright flavour tempers the sweetness of the white chocolate, while the warm, buttery nuttiness of the macadamias anchors the whole combination. Each bite brings little explosions of flavour from the three main ingredients - gems of taste and texture.
When baked until glowingly golden, this cookie has a comforting, nubbly appearance and that chewy-crunchy texture which I have waxed lyrical about before, so I won't bore with repetition here. Suffice to say that this is exactly what is needed as a foil to a perfectly brewed cup of tea or coffee in the late afternoon sunshine.
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