Phenomenal Phoods

White chocolate cranberry cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• Zest of 1 orange (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries.
• 12 ounces white chocolate chunks or chips (use a good quality white chocolate with a high amount of cocoa butter - I like Divine or Ghirardelli chocolate bars, not the chips)

Instructions:

1. Cream together shortening, butter and sugars until smooth.
2. Add the eggs, orange zest and vanilla, mixing until smooth.
3. Add the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.
4. Fold in about half of the white chocolate chunks and all of the cranberries.
5. Chill the dough for at least an hour.
6. When ready, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line baking sheets with parchment paper and scoop dough into 1 inch balls a couple of inches apart on the baking sheets. I like to chill the sheets for another 10 minutes once the cookies have been scooped before baking.
7. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8-10 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown.
8. While the cookies are cooling, melt the remaining white chocolate in 20 second increments in the microwave. Note that white chocolate burns really easily so you have to watch it, and if you are using a poor quality white chocolate (one without much cocoa butter), you'll have a really hard time getting it to melt properly without having chunks.
9. Use a spoon to drizzle melted white chocolate over the cooled cookies.