The cookie so good my mom had to tell me they were so good about 20 times…
My mom and I talk a lot about food. I mean a lot. Sometimes my mom will list everything she ate that day or read me a recipe over the phone. She loves describing food to me, which I hate, because I usually become hungry by the time she is done. And since she does not live close to me I can not go over and get it. For months now she has been going on and on about these cranberry orange cookies….telling me over and over again how good they are(she keeps having senior moments and forgets that she has told me how good these are). So before she came here this weekend I told her, for the love of Pete bring the stinking cranberry orange cookie recipe. So as you can clearly see the cookies were indeed made and I must say that they are tasty and agree with my mother that they are good. To me they say winter(they are from a Christmas magazine after all) but my mother makes them year round. The original recipe said macadamia nuts, but we make ours with pistachio because we both agree they go better with the cranmorange(see me use the word in everyday conversation) combo. My mother also is emphatic about them being better the next day and encourages anyone who makes them to wait till the next day because they are “that much better”…her words, not mine. She was a little shocked that I was putting them up on my blog. I think she too was feeling the pressure that well over 200 people would now be judging the cookies that she just kept telling me were the best. The “what if people don’t like them” panic hit her just a little. I told her the worst that could happen is that people would rally together and start a website dedicate to how much they hate these cookies and how evil Peabody’s mom was to suggest they were good. The movement would gain popularity and a cranberry-orange Peabody’s mom hating cult would form. They would hold secret meetings plotting her death until they finally killed her off while she was peddling her cookies at the local Farmers Market at the small community center her town has. I told her not to worry because the chances of that happening were slim. Moral of the story being, if you don’t like them, just say so…don’t go gun down my mom!
Cranberry Orange Cookies
Orange Sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp freshly grated orange peel
Cookies
1 cup sugar
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
½ cup pistachio nuts
1 TBSP freshly grated orange peel
Heat oven to 350F.
Combine all orange sugar ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well mixed. Set aside.
Combine 1 cup sugar, butter and egg in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until well mixed. Add all remaining ingredients. Continue beating just until mixed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in orange sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass to 1 ½-inch circles.
Bake for 7 to 11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.(DO NOT OVERBAKE). Cool 1 minutes; remove from cookie sheets.
Source: Adapted from Land O’Lakes Holiday Cookies 2005
April 9th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Peabody, those are really nice looking cookies. I am going to give it a try coming weekend. Thanks
April 9th, 2007 at 5:29 am
Wow, these look delicious. I totally understand why you mom talk about them so much.
April 9th, 2007 at 6:33 am
Well they sound really good (as I sit here and eat my cranmorange muffin)! They look really good! How could they be bad? I think your mom is safe. =)
xoxo
April 9th, 2007 at 6:52 am
They do look good! Long live cranmorange!
April 9th, 2007 at 7:27 am
They look and sound really good. I’m gonna believe that you mom is right on with her assessment. Can’t wait to try them.
April 9th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I am totally making these! Would you use the same amount of macadamia nuts?
April 9th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Not an orange fan. But would totally make these with lemon or lime.
Don’t worry, Mom, I won’t come after ya!
April 9th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Tell your mom not too worry ..if I make these it will be at my own risk. They looks so good anyway so I don’t know why she is apprehensive. Oh my mom and I talk a lot about food too…it’s a wonder we talk about anything else.
April 9th, 2007 at 9:40 am
These look great! I’m going to have to try them sometime soon, for sure! Great combination of flavors!
April 9th, 2007 at 9:54 am
These look scrumptious!
April 9th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Laughing hysterically here. The cookies look lovely and I like the pistachio addition. The worst thing will actually be that Peabody’s Mom will have to start her OWN food blog and feel pressured to post
April 9th, 2007 at 10:21 am
I don’t think it’s even *possible* to go wrong with the cranberry-orange-pistachio combo. I’ll have to try these out!
April 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Peabody,The cookies with the cranberries and the pistachio look wonderful. I love this combination.your mom seems really hooked to food bloging. Talent runs in the family.
April 9th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Cranmorange is the new black.
April 9th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Very festive. I have to say that though they may be good - I like the pretty colors best
April 9th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Ivonne- it is 1/4 of a cup of any nuts you want to use!
April 9th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I think your mom is right on… those look good…the recipe sounds good. I’m sure they are fantastic!
I think your mom needs to start her own blog
April 9th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I just made them! Used macadamia nuts because that’s what I had on hand. Great recipe-thank you..and mom!
April 9th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Mmmm I love anything with the cranberry-orange combo. Those look so yummy. I’ve never made anything with pistachio before, I’ll have to give it a try.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
You have the most beautiful & yummy looking pictures on your blog
April 9th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
They look incredibly good! I’m curious as to their texture. Are they soft like a sugar cookie, crunchy, or chewy?
April 9th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Ooh, these are quite pretty! And for once, a recipe that involves the only kind of cranberries that I have access to
April 9th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Anything with dried cranberries is OK with me. Thanks, Peabody’s Mom!
April 9th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Right I’m making them tomorrow. I’ll be using macadamias because I have them.
April 10th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Hi Pea! LOL - your mom sounds adorable, honestly! I’m sure these cookies are just a wonderful as she says. Phone conversations with my mom are the same way - we spend about 95% of the time discussing recipes, ingredients, baking, cooking… and the other 5% very quickly recaping the actual earth-shattering events that have gone on around us…
April 10th, 2007 at 7:14 am
You’re so right about pistachios being the way to go. Did you explain the alternate scenario to your mom, that she could become a cult figure of hero-worship in the blogosphere–a cranmorange goddess of sorts??
I’m betting that’s what happens, but I want to turn these cookies into muffins…we’ll see.
April 10th, 2007 at 9:39 am
Peabody I think I love your mother…she has such a great daughter!
Tell her not to fear, I’ll come protect her from the hords who come after her begging for these cookies…if she’ll slip me one or two a day.
Beautiful cookies.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I just found/visited your blog for the first time and I am hooked. I can’t wait to try some of your recipes and also keep reading your witty posts.
April 10th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I somehow always read food blogs when I’m hungry. These cookies are giving me hunger pangs… I want to eat my screen.
I have lots of oranges so I think I’ll make some this weekend. Thanks for the recipe!
April 10th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Thanks for the inspiration!
You’re tagged~
Sandi
April 10th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Stop torturing me!!!!!!!!!! Argh!!!!!
April 10th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I saw that you listed your choice baking chocolates and was wondering where you can typically find those brands? And the Plugra?
Do/will you ever blog about culinary concoctions that are not baked?
April 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Ha! I am sure your mom will be fine…funny that she got a glimpse of what it feels like to be a carefree blogger, posting your crazy recipes for no one to see - until the day the first comments come in and you realize, crap, people are actually READING my blog??
Looks SO yummy!!!
Kirsten
April 11th, 2007 at 8:27 am
i adore this marriage of flavors - so fresh! these look lovely. i wish i had such a beautiful culinary relationship with my mother!
April 11th, 2007 at 11:23 am
I felt like you were talking about MY mother. She lives 350 miles away and we talk every day–always to include in the conversation what I am cooking for dinner and every bite she had had to eat that day! WHY????? But back to the subject, these cookies do look good and I am going to try them. Tell your mom hello!
April 15th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Your photos make those cookies look delectable. I’m thinking I must try them — and I’m not even a “cookie” person!
April 15th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
This is close to a recipe I made from Food and Wine?? At least I think that’s where I got it. Could be a dozen other mags I read. They were so good and I got lots of compliments. Anyway there was no orange, just the pistachios and dried cranberries. I can hardly wait to try these and compare. Bless your Mom, I think she is safe.
May 5th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
[…] inspired by: land o’ lakes holiday cookies, via peabody […]
May 16th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I love these cookies. So much that I decided to post the recipe (giving you all the credit) on my own blog. I’m a novice at blogging, and am still working at taking photos for my personal cookbook, and have very few photos of my own regular recipes. The other day I took a few of your cookies out of the freezer and snapped a photo of them (I made a mistake - I forgot to flatten mine - but they still tasted just fine). So thanks for the recipe. I enjoy reading your blog - which I get through Google Reader. I served these cookies to guests with my Lemon Velvet Ice Cream. They were super with it - the combo of the lemon in the ice cream, and the orange in the cookies was very tasty, indeed. Thanks!
August 4th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
I made these a few weeks ago but forgot to come back and tell you how wonderful they were. Delicious — definitely worth talking about!