White Chocolate Cherry Cookies with Rose Butter

Alison Roman said once that “a roasted chicken is a great way to show someone that you love them”. She’s pretty spot on, but for me, it’s always been cookies . My dad loves peanut butter cookies. He likes them made with crunchy peanut butter so there are little nut pieces littered throughout and he likes the criss-crossing fork marks and the sprinkling of white sugar on top. My sister is a snickerdoodle gal. She likes them super soft and pillowy, rolled in cinnamon sugar with their trademark ridges on top. My husband favors deep dark chocolate cookies. He likes them to be crunchy on the outside, but gooey on the inside, and shredded coconut is always a welcome addition in his book. My mom is a firm number two on the Enneagram, so she is not picky and likes whatever cookie everyone else wants. Whenever I ask her what she prefers, she replies with “anything you would like to make”. But a long time ago, there was a cookie recipe in an old copy of a family cookbook that she really loved. They were oatmeal cookies, crunchy and flat from a substantial butter amount, speckled with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries. I think it was the red and white aesthetic that helped land these cookies firmly in the Christmas cookie category and each December, my mom looked forward to these little treats most.

So I made these cookies for my mom. They are a fluffier cookie than the original, without any oatmeal and I traded the cranberries for big, inky tart cherries. The butter is steeped with rose petals and then cooled back to room temperature. I first thought about straining the rose petals out, but thought they would look pretty strewn throughout the cookie, and as my mom always taught me, don’t dirty an extra dish if you don’t absolutely have to.

So while roasting a chicken is great way to show you someone you love them, cookies can be a little cozier and more personal. Get creative and find a cookie that speaks to the stomachs of those in your life. As the nights get longer days get chillier, I encourage you to hunker down in your kitchen and make a batch of cookies for someone you love.

White Chocolate Cherry Cookies with Rose Butter

Yield: 12-16 large cookies, or 24-28 small cookies

Ingredients: 

1 cup (2 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter

3/4 cup + 4 tsp (180 g) brown sugar

1/2 cup (116 g) granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups (390 g) all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt 

2 tbsp dried rose petals

1 cup (138 g) dried tart cherries, chopped 

2 cups (12 oz, 340 g) white chocolate, chopped 

Procedure: 

1. Combine butter and rose petals in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Heat butter, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted but not browned. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep until cooled to room temperature.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, brown sugar, and melted/cooled butter. Beat on medium speed until combined and lightened slightly. The mixture should have the texture and consistency of very wet sand. Reduce mixer speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl occasionally to ensure that everything is evenly combined. Mix in vanilla extract.

4. With the mixer still on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined and no flour streaks remain. Fold in chopped cherries and white chocolate. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.

5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375° F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place scooped cookie dough evenly on sheet pan, leaving about 2” space between each cookie.

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies or 10-12 minutes for larger cookies, until the edges are golden brown and the tops of the cookies are dry. Remove pan from the oven, tap on counter once or twice, and sprinkle flaky salt on the tops of the cookies. Let cookies cool on the pan for at least five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes: 

1. You can leave out the rose petals if you don’t have them- I just like the slightly floral flavor they give to the final product.

2. If your dried cherries are a little stiff and crunchy from being in the bag too long, you can rehydrate them by placing them in a heat proof bowl and covering them with boiling water. Let them soak for 10-15 minutes, drain well, and pat dry before chopping and adding to the cookie dough.

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

My aunt makes the best banana bread. When I was a kid, every year after Christmas, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would squeeze into a condo on Pensacola beach for three or four days for the New Year’s holiday. The highlight of this trip was always banana bread. When we got to the condo, there would be petite-sized loaves wrapped in red and green cellophane sitting atop the small, beige-colored countertop and it was all my sister and I could do not to consume all of them in the first afternoon. As I got older and started puttering around in the kitchen, I asked my aunt for her recipe and began making my own banana breads. I had a very elaborate system for how to cool, rest, and wrap these little dark, speckle-y loaves in order to maximize that gooey top layer synonymous with banana bread and I would always save that little top ridge for my last, most savored bites.

But sometimes you get tired of making banana bread, especially if you’re anything like me and seems you always have a never-ending supply of too ripe bananas. My husband loves muffins and always requests them when we have a surplus of bananas rapidly browning on the counter, but I have never been able to master that sticky, soft top layer on the muffin. But, alas, I have come up with a solution to the problem. This cinnamon oat topping is not a traditional bakery-style muffin topping. I actually developed it from a cobbler recipe, so this is the real-deal crunch topping. Oats and brown sugar are bound together by a hefty amount of softened butter and you are really going to lay it on thick so that you get some of that crunchy goodness in each bite. Who knows, maybe this year I’ll wrap them in red and green cellophane and send them to my nieces and nephews to carry on the aunt who makes the best banana baked goods tradition.

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

Yield: 12 large muffins

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large, ripe bananas

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled 

for the crumble: 

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2 tbsp + 2 tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt 

4 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed 

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with cupcake liners, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In medium sized bowl, combine sugar, mashed bananas, egg, and coconut oil. Use a whisk to mix well, until combined and homogenous. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth and no dry spots remain. Use a large cookie scoop to divide among prepared muffin tin and set aside.

4. To make the crumble: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer), combine flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar. Stir together. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the butter. When all the butter has been added, increase speed to medium and beat until fully incorporated and no dry spots remain.

5. Use your fingers to scatter oat topping evenly over the muffin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until muffins are golden brown and the tops spring back slightly when touched. Let muffins cool for 5 minutes in pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.