Cranberry chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies

I have a confession to make. Only a small portion of the cookies I made tonight were actually cranberry chocolate chunk. You see, we're going to a neighbor's house tomorrow for a get-together. For the grownup dessert, I planned a pumpkin custard. Thinking that my littles wouldn't be thrilled, I wanted to make a more kid-friendly sweet. Oatmeal cookies? Ooh chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies! No, no, no! Cranberry chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies! When I told my kids, you'd have thunk I'd offered to put brussels sprouts in their cookies. Fine. Whatever.

But I did make several cookies that were actually cranberry chocolate chunk oatmeal. And they were really, really delicious. Kids are missing out.

Chopped semisweet Scharffen Berger chocolate bar. And it was on special at Whole Foods so I needn't feel horribly guilty about splurging. You could use semisweet chocolate chips or chop up a different brand.

Cranberry (yes, I insist on keeping this) chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups rolled oatmeal (not instant)
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 bar (3 ounces) chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Heat the oven to 375°F. Use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until well blended.

Mix the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Alternating with the milk, add the dry ingredients to the dough a little at a time, mixing on low. Add the semisweet chocolate and cranberries. Stir in the extract.

Drop tablespoon-sized mounds of dough about 2 inches apart on parchment paper-covered cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned. Mr. Bittman suggests 12 to 15 minutes. In my convection oven, it took about 8-10 minutes. Cool for about 2 minutes on the sheets before using a spatula to transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature for no more than a day or two.