Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

The new recipe book from Grandma is seeing some more use!

I tried the recipe for "Hershey's Double Chocolate Mini Kisses Cookies." You know me: I just can't stick exactly to the recipe!

Displayed on one of my new floral accent plates from my mother-in-law!

Here's the recipe, with my alterations:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1 c. softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream these ingredients together until light and fluffy. Meanwhile, mix the following dry ingredients together in a separate bowl:

2 c. flour
2/3 c. Hershey's Cocoa - I used special dark, of course
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Add gradually to the creamed mixture. The dough will be rather stiff. At this point, my poor vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster was mastered by the stiff dough and gave up, so I had to mix by hand. I'm calling it my lower arm workout for the day!

Next, fold in the chocolate chips and cranberries:

1 1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 c. dried cranberries (Craisins)

The recipe says to add Hershey's mini kisses rather than the chocolate chips, and also requires chopped nuts. I improvised with the chocolate chips and Craisins - excellent.

Next, the recipe said to drop by rounded spoonful onto the cookie sheet. I tried that, and just didn't like how it looked. The dough was stiff enough, so I rolled the dough into 3/4" balls.

See the cranberry in that one? Mmm!

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are set. Cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool. They say it makes 3 1/2 dozen, but making it my way gave me 6 dozen.

They're a delicious, truly chocolate cookie. The cranberries are just the right addition of tartness, and I love the way the melted chocolate chips add to the cookie. Happy!