One of my favorite ingredients to sneak into cookies is dried fruit. When incorporated well with the other components of the recipe, I think it adds a little something unique to the taste as well as the texture. I developed these particular oatmeal cookies as a twist on the original in an attempt to challenge the hegemony of the raisin.

You’ll need 1 stick butter, room temperature, 1 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 egg, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup chocolate chips, 2/3 cup craisins (dried cranberries), 3/4 cup flour and 1 1/4 cups oatmeal.

As with most cookies, the first step involves creaming together the butter and sugar with your mixer on medium-high in a large bowl. Then drop in your egg and mix until it is fully incorporated. Last, add in the vanilla and almond extracts and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together all your dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and the craisins. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; after all the dry ingredients have been fully incorporated, fold in the chocolate chips and craisins.

Drop the dough (2-3 tablespoon portions) onto a greased cookie sheet 2-3″ apart and bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Make sure you follow the cooking time, as these cookies won’t be turning golden-brown.

As my batch of cookies was cooling, I decided to whip up a light vanilla icing (powdered sugar, water or milk, and vanilla extract) to top them off, and much to my surprise, it ended up being the perfect final touch. It doesn’t take all that much time, and the results are amazing.

Some variations you might want to try out

I’ve worked with a number of different dried fruits in this recipe. One simple substitute involves using chopped dried dates in place of craisins. Dates have a more neutral flavor and are a bit more chewy than craisins. One other option would be to omit the cinnamon and throw in 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots that have been tossed in flour (so they don’t clump together); with this recipe, you’ll want to use dark chocolate or white chocolate chips, rather than just semisweet morsels. These dark chocolate offers a nice contrast to the sweet apricots, while the white chocolate would make for a sweeter, richer cookie for those of you who dislike the bitterness of dark chocolate.