As a favor to my dear friend Kate, here is a step-by-step tutorial on making some pretty delicious white chocolate cranberry cookies.
First, the ingredients:
- 12 Tbs (tablespoons) of butter
- 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp (teaspoon) almond extract
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
- 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cup white chocolate chip (I used mini by accident and it was fine, but I think using the normal size would be better)
- 1 cup dried cranberries
First, measure the amount of butter you need (12 Tbs – one stick is 8 Tbs) and let it sit outside the fridge until it is soft (at least 15 minutes). I threw the light brown sugar and regular sugar in with the butter as I waited for the butter to soften.
Next, I measured out the dry ingredients into a separate bowl – 2 1/4 cup flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda. Mix it all together with a fork or whisk.
So here you have everything ready to go to build your dough. It’s good to measure everything out before you start mixing. Once you are ready to begin, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
With a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Start your mixer speed on low, so the sugar doesn’t go flying everywhere, and once it is incorporated you can increase the speed to about medium. Once the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter – add the egg and almond extract. To avoid dropping any pieces of shell into the dough, crack the egg into a small bowl and then pour it into the mix.
Once you have incorporated the egg and almond extract (which btw is the secret ingredient to these cookies), slowly start adding the flour mixture. I like to add about 1/2 a cup at a time. Mix on low so the flour doesn’t go flying. Once the flour you’ve added has been incorporated, add a bit more flour, mix and repeat.
You will end up with this crumbly mixture.
Now add the white chocolate chips (2 cups) and dried cranberries (1 cup). Mix with a spatula and try to evenly distribute everything.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Now it’s time to scoop and roll the dough. You can use a tablespoon to help you. I’d say these cookies were about 2 Tbs worth of dough each. 
Roll the ball between your palms, place on the cookie sheet, and slightly flatten. 
Now it’s baking time! Put the cookies in the center rack in the oven and bake for 12 minutes exactly. Set a timer. After 12 minutes, take them out and let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer them to a cooling rack.
And there you have it! These really were delicious – slightly crisp on the edges but still soft and chewy in the middle. And white chocolate and cranberries go so well together, especially with that almond extract.
I brought them in to work, sent an email at 9:15 letting people know, and by 10:30 they were gone.