Christmas Cookies: Oatmeal with Dried Cherries and Pistachios

Written by Becky

Since our tree is up, and we’ve already busted out a Christmas movie to watch, I figure its okay to start posting Christmas Cookies right? These cookies are chunky and chewy, full of tart dried cherries and salty pistachios. Basically, they are the perfect oatmeal cookie all dressed up for Christmas in red and green.

Over the weekend we did a lot of relaxing at its finest, with cocktails, feasting on leftovers, and good hang out time with friends. We made another batch of Moroccan Stew, this time using a homemade turkey broth, and the leftover turkey from our fried turkey. Frying the turkey was super easy and only took 35 minutes. I honestly felt like we cheated a bit. But then I tasted it and quickly forgot. It was perfectly juicy and crisp all at the same time; definitely a highlight of our Thanksgiving meal. Besides eating (which we did do a lot of) we also took several walks with Henry, played some games, and watched movies.

A picture of the dough for you. Why? Because sometimes the dough is so good it doesn’t make it to the cookie stage.

I’m a sucker for traditions so every year we try and keep up a few traditions over the holidays. The day after Thanksgiving we go and pick out a tree, then during the weekend we usually watch Elf (my favorite Christmas movie) while decorating the tree. It’s not unusual for us to camp out in the living room watching movies on a holiday evening (usually I love Lucy episodes or Robert Redford classics). Also, we must drop by Trolley Square mall during this season to pick up some of our favorite candied nuts from a little kiosk at the mall. You will easily find them, because the aroma of roasted nuts fills the whole mall. We also picked out some Christmas cards while we were there (Tabularasa is our favorite card and stationary store).

How was your Thanksgiving Weekend? What traditions did you make this year? Also, I must remind you to leave a comment on the post of Moroccan Soup and Thanksgiving Leftovers for a chance to win Three Many Cooks‘, Pam Anderson’s, latest cookbook. It would make a wonderful Christmas present for the cook in your family!

I’m looking forward to hearing about all of your Thanksgiving stories!

Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Cranberries and Pistachios

Yield: makes 18 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons flax seeds (optional... it adds a rustic feel to the cookie)
  • 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
  • 1/3 cup dried cherries (2 ounces)
  • 1/3 cup shelled pistachios (1 1/2 ounces; not dyed red), coarsely chopped

Instructions

  1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.
  2. Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat until combined well. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, flax seeds and cinnamon in a small bowl, then add to dough and mix at low speed until just combined. Fold in oats, cherries and pistachios.
  3. Spoon rounded tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake cookies, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies with a spatula to racks. (Cookies will crisp as they cool.)
https://www.thevintagemixer.com/christmas-cookies-oatmeal-with-dried-cherries-and-pistachios/

Comments (21)

  1. These look great! In my opinion, it's never too early to start posting Christmas cookie recipes. And I love holiday traditions. We usually get our tree Thanksgiving weekend too, and watch Love Actually while we decorate.

  2. YAY!! i've been waiting and waiting for you to posted this delicious recipe!! these were so yummy! thanks for sharing!

  3. oh… and we had quite the eventful weekend… which is why we didn't make it over…. hope you had lots of yummy pie!

  4. Love the colors in your cookies! Just thought I would let you know I finally did try Zy, and loved it! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂

  5. Those cookies are beautiful and so festive! The photography really shows them off well.

    It sounds like you had a wonderful holiday. I love hearing about all of your traditions!

    P.S. I like the old comment format better 🙂

  6. How cute!
    Can't wait to try these out. Love that you added flax seeds, I may try throwing in chia and hemp as well for some added nutrition. With the oatmeal, it'd probably be barely noticeable!

    Great blog, so glad I found it.

  7. Though the cookies look great, and I’d love some right now, I’m wondering about the instruction to butter the cookie sheet. Wouldn’t the butter on those cookie sheets burn in the oven, even smoke? I see you have yours on silpat. Would buttering even be necessary if one uses silpat?

  8. Hi
    I found your site looking for cookie recipes for Thanksgiving. Iknow this is an older post you wrote but I do want to thank you for the recipe. I hope to try these tomorrow.

Leave a Reply to Becky at VintageMixer Cancel reply