The infamous cranberry orange cookies…

Step into your Delorean (alright, if you don’t have one, just step into your metaphorical Delorean, okay?), and let’s travel back to one year ago when I dropped an innocent care package into the mail. See, Todd and I did long distance all last year—a true coast-to-coast relationship. Even though he couldn’t eat any home baking fresh from the oven, I spoiled him with lots of care packages filled with homemade goodies. I’d say it was a close second best.

I spent a good chunk of my weekends baking sweets and then packaging them so they could make the long journey to California. Well, after one weekend of baking, I only had about two or three treats to send to Todd. With room still left in the box (mind you, I don’t like leftover space), I made a quick dash to the grocery store, bought some cookies from the bakery, and sneakily stuffed them into a Ziploc bag. (Yeah, yeah, I passed grocery store cookies off as my own. I tasted them before sending, though, to make sure they were worthy of the Ziploc-homemade-appearance effort.)

So, the package arrives. You’re still with me, right? Yes, the package arrives, and I get the call! Yay, he loved the goodies. What was his favorite? My homemade chocolate chip cookies, my fudgy brownies, my great peanut butter chocolate bars? No, of course not. His favorite was the store-bought orange cranberry cookies. Oy.
This package started a trend. A trend where Todd asked me to make those awesome cranberry orange cookies that I had sent him, and I replied, as sincerely as possible, that I had lost the recipe for those cookies, darnit, and I just hoped that I would re-find it one day. You must understand that Todd is relentless. He has yet to forget about how good those cookies were: cakey but moist, full of orange citrus flavor, with the wonderful texture of dried cranberries. Because I grew tired of hearing about how wonderful those darn store-bought cookies were, I searched relentlessly for a comparable cranberry orange cookie.

Well, guys, I found it! Eureka! Thank you Land O’Lakes, thank you Land O’Lakes, thank you! You saved me!! This recipe is amazing—even better than those silly store-bought cookies. They are cakey and moist, sweet, but not too sweet, thick and chewy, orangey with that nice cranberry tartness. They are delicious. You can’t stop at one. At long last, the search is over. I have “re-found” the magical recipe. And, Todd gave these cookies his utmost approval!

Cranberry Orange Cookies
Adapted from Land O’Lakes

2 ½ cups AP flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
4 oz (½ block) cream cheese, softened
2 tsp freshly grated orange peel
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Method:
(1) Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
(2) Cream sugar, butter, and cream cheese together until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add in orange zest and vanilla. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated.
(3) Add in dried ingredients in two parts. Stir in dried cranberries.
(4) Scoop dough onto baking sheets. Bake for 11-12 minutes, until just golden around the edges. The cookies will continue to darken once removed from the oven. (These cookies don’t spread much. I fit about 8 per baking sheet, but probably could have squeezed more.)