Cranberry Spice Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies

Did you buy too many bags of fresh cranberries for the holidays? Yeah, me too. Do you hate throwing away your sourdough starter discard when it's time to feed your starter? Yeah, me too. Well, fear not because I've got a fun, festive, cookie recipe that can help with both of those problems. They'll be a great addition to your holiday cookie box... if your family doesn't eat them all first.

(Please note that you will need a kitchen scale that measures in grams for the following recipe. Especially when it comes to baking, precision in the measurement of ingredients really does make a difference in the quality of the end product.)

Cranberry Spice Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 50 grams (½ stick) unsalted butter

• 120 grams all-purpose flour

• 7 grams kosher salt

• 4 grams baking soda

• 8 grams A Bite of Good Autumn Spice Blend (get yours here)

• 170 grams brown sugar

• 100 grams granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 large egg yolk

• 4 grams pure vanilla extract

• 80 grams neutral oil (I suggest grapeseed, but vegetable oil will work if that's what you've got on hand)

• 70 grams sourdough discard (can be used straight from the fridge)

• 280 grams rolled oats

• 100 grams fresh cranberries (or 60 grams dried cranberries)

Directions:

Melt butter in a small pot over medium-low heat, swirling occasionally, until the foaming subsides and the milk solids have browned but not burned. Pour melted butter into the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if you don't have a stand mixer) and allow to cool completely. You can put it in the fridge to speed along the process, but keep in mind that you want it to be room temperature, not cold. Technically, you can skip the browned butter, but the nuttiness of it really is key to making these cookies delicious.

While your browned butter is cooling down, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and Autumn Spice Blend in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Once your browned butter has cooled down, add the brown and granulated sugars to the bowl and mix together until fluffy.

Add oil to mix to combine. Add egg and egg yolk one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Mix until smooth.

Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix in oats and cranberries and stir until evenly distributed. The mixture will be thick and stiff.

Line two baking sheets with parchment. Roll dough into 24 balls and arrange on trays. Place trays in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes (longer if using fresh cranberries, shorter if using dried), rotating trays halfway through. You want the cookie edges to be slightly browned and crisp and the centers to be soft but not wet.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try not to eat the whole batch at once. ;-)