Creating a new recipe...

Several years ago while at the mall, I bought a cookie that sounded great - White Chocolate Cherry. Well, the cookie was all sugary with about two tiny bites of white confection and maybe three pieces of dried cherries. I am not a big fan of white chocolate, but the whole idea of the sweet/sour combination intrigued me, so I decided to develop my own cookie. I made one or two attempts but was not happy and set the idea aside. But today, I determined to finish what I had started and here is the result - a chewy oatmeal based cookie with both white and dark chocolate and dried mixed berries. Try it and let me know if you like it. Buying both white chocolate and the dried berries makes this cookie a little on the expensive side, but fun to make nonetheless. Don't use white baking chips - they are sweet and milky but contain no cocoa butter. Buy a couple of good white chocolate bars and cut them up. Using good quality dark chocolate chips and dried fruit makes all the difference. Also, use pure extracts and not imitation flavors.

White Chocolate Cherry/Berry Cookies

2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Combine and mix well in a large mixing bow. Blend well, but do not overmix.

2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Put the oats in a blender or food processor and process until like fine flour. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended.

6 oz. dried mixed berries and cherries (or just cherries, if you prefer)
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chunks (not vanilla flavored chips)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Add to the blended mixture and stir until just mixed in. I used a 1 oz. food disher (2 Tbs.) to drop the cookies onto the cookie sheets. Bake in 375 oven for about 12 minutes, depending on your type of cookie sheet and your oven. Cool on pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

*You can vary the amount of white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate to your preference. I think next time, I may do 1 cup of each or use more semi-sweet and less white chocolate.