Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Lately, every time I bake cookies, they have been lame, hard, crunchy discs. It has been pathetic and humbling. After using some mixes and my cookies just getting worse, I went back to starting from scratch. For high altitude baking, it is better to use complete recipes that way components arr easier to adjust for altitude. Flagstaff is a high desert location meaning the climate is dry, borderline arid. For these cookies the batter was a little more sticky than most, but resulted in a moist cookie up here. If you are lower than 4000 ft in elevation, I would do a test batch and maybe adjust as needed.

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened (NOT melted)
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Then set aside.
   
2. In a larger bowl beat together butter and both types of sugar. Beat until light and fluffy**. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well.
   
3. Slowly add in the flour mixture until it is just combine. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips and cranberries until evenly incorporated.
   
4. Drop by the rounded "tablespoonful" on to a cookie sheet approximately 2 inches apart. Bake 12-15 minutes. Cool pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Then remove from pan and allow cookies to cool completely.

notes: this recipe makes enough batter for approximately 3 dozen cookies. Also, if you don't have an electric mixer, incorporating the butter with the sugars can be difficult to do. I leave the stick butter hard, cut into cubes and gently use my hands to evenly disperse the butter with sugar then I use a wooden spoon and whisk. Don't use your hands too much or your body heat will melt the butter and sugars.

ETA: Recently I was asked what kind of cooling rack and cookie sheets I prefer to use. Right now, I don't use any specific cookie sheet, just ones that are nonstick. However, I do use the Wilton Recipe Right 3 Tier Cooling Rack set. It has three racks that can be either stacked or used alone. It was a great buy!