Are you all as bake exchange-crazy as me?
I’ve controlled myself this year and am only involved in 3 different baking exchanges, one of which is the super fun Food Blogger Cookie Swap, which meant some delicious Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies arrived in the mail from Kristy the other day with a lovely note! I can’t wait to see what else turns up, even if my husband is mildly concerned we’ll get cookies from the one person who signed up just for the fun of poisoning a stranger. Really, did anyone else even consider this??
Anyway, even if you’re involved in only one bake exchange, or are sticking to your own trusty baking this holiday season, I have a fantastic cookie recipe for you to include that will change things up a little but still be traditional enough to please the classic cookie lover. I mean, it’s essentially an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Except then there’s pomegranate arils in them too, and they are zingy and fresh and a little crunchy and absolutely stunningly beautiful in colour.
As you may know if you read this blog, like, ever, I’m more than a little fond of cookies. I really love them. As in, if I’m baking, and it’s something other than cookies, you can guarantee cookies will be in the oven within 24 hours. I never want them to feel forgotten or second best. Like any good marriage, no matter how busy one gets with other things, you always need to make time for your number one love.
Don’t let them feel forgotten just because you happen to have buns in the oven.
I’ll stop there, suffice to say I really love cookies. And my husband. And I know he loves me because he worries about strangers shipping me poison cookies. That’s true love, right there.
But these cookies – first of all, have you had a pomegranate? They’re a pretty new thing to me. And they’re messy, my friends. But oh so fun and worth it! (Above marriage/cookie analogies not to be applied here in the interest of preserving appetites. Sorry, I am just not in a G-rated mood tonight, I’ll try to focus).
So yes, pomegranates! The fruit where you throw out the skin and flesh and eat the seeds! Or, as I recently learned, the arils. Oooh, so fancy. One pomegranate is CHOCK FULL of these juicy little arils, and one little seed gives an explosion of flavor in your mouth. These aren’t called a superfruit for nothing.
I tell you often that something is one of my favorite cookie recipes, and I truly mean it every single time. And these are definitely another one of my favorite cookies. I made them a couple days ago and am going to the store tomorrow for more pomegranates to make some more. If you’re involved in one of the same baking exchanges I am, let me know how you feel about pomegranate in your cookies! Or make them to share, I would love to have someone help me stock my freezer with these! I really hope you all already love pomegranate or are willing to take the plunge to try these cookies.
Chelsea actually gave me a fabulous tip on de-seeding pomegranates, which all the youtube videos with people peeling pomegranates into bowls of water didn’t mention. Want to know a MUCH easier, MUCH faster, and MUCH tidier way? Not to mention stress-reducing? Cut your pomegranate in half horizontally, then hold half of it upside down over a large bowl. Whack heartily with the back of a tablespoon and watch the arils leap out, singing freedom hymns. Totally worth making these cookies, if you ask me. :)
- ½ cup butter, room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chunks (semi-sweet or dark; about 4 oz chopped chocolate/4 sqaures of baking chocolate)
- 1 cup pomegranate arils (about 1 pomegranate)
- Preheat oven to 375. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or grease lightly and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chunks, then gently stir in pomegranate arils.
- Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.
I made these this afternoon and they are fabulous. Nice blend of tart and sweet!
Just made these and they taste great!! But they spread out kind of like almond lace cookies. Would it hold up better with butter flavored crisco!?? Help!!.
Sounds like not enough flour or your butter was too melted/dough was too warm! Refrigerating the dough and rolling thicker balls would both help fix it.
These were SO good! Thank you for sharing! Love from Oslo, Norway :-)
Hi Anna…my daughter wanted to make pomegranate cookies for her YouTube channel and I came across your recipe. Thank you, the cookies are delicious and she enjoyed making and eating them!! Here she is http://youtu.be/TW_JoVReFDw
So cute!! Glad you liked them :)
These just cam out of the oven and are amazing!! Treating my graduate class to these tomorrow.
Can the dough be made ahead of time for these cookies?
Yes it can! You can refrigerate the dough until you need it (up to 3 days – let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before baking), or portion into balls and freeze those to bake when needed. You may need to add a couple minutes to the baking time when baking from frozen (don’t thaw the balls first). Glad you like them!
Please specify that they need to be greased pans, mine are stuck :( besides that, delicious!
Sorry, I’ll add that in! I always use parchment paper so I forget that step :)
Just picked up 2 of the biggest pomegranates I’ve ever seen at our grocery store and had to find some recipes to put them in! Just pulled the first batch of these out of the oven and they are super!!! LOVE the extra bursts from the pomegranate arils. Thanks for sharing!
These are awesome!!! I just made them and can’t stop eating them. Perfect combo of sweet and tart. Yum! I will be making these for my Christmas cookie exchange this year!
I am definitely going to try this today with whole wheat flour and little applesauce to substitute the butter.
Side note – you need a Pin It! button so we can easily pin your recipes to Pinterest!!! Couldn’t find one :)
I’ve done them with half whole wheat flour and it works great :) Good point on the “pin it” button – it keeps getting ignored on my “to-do” list but I need to change that!
I’ve made these several times (unfortunately without the pomegranates–they have not been in season since I’ve found this recipe). I used craisins each time. They are by far my favorite cookie recipe.
Thanks so much for letting us know! They are definitely a favourite here too…I’ll have to make them with craisins, here I was waiting for pomegranate season to roll around again!
hi,i’ve made these too, 3 times in a week! they are great! baking time was 8-9 min/portion in a medium -high oven. I’ve also tried doing them with honey instead of sugar, everybody loved them, even though they were not as chewy- they were rather “dry” when i used honey. nevertheless ,they are now on our weekely cooking list! Tnx, I.
Thanks for your comment, and for letting us know how it worked with honey!
When I was a youngster my Mom would tell all of us kids that pomegranates were “nature’s candy”. I have always loved them but never thought to put them in cookies.
Your cookies are certainly drool-worthy!
“Nature’s candy” – I love that!!
These cookies are amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing,
For some reason mine came out super flat and thin – anyone know why that happened? Other than that, they are SO delicious. Having them thin makes it sort of like a granola bar or something. I love the mixture of sour and sweet with the pomegranate and chocolate. New favorite seasonal cookie.
My cookies used to do that ALL the time, I discovered it was a combination of 2 problems – I had a super small hot-box of a kitchen and my batter was too warm before going into the oven, so refrigerating it for 20 minutes first made a big difference, and measuring flour with wet measuring cups instead of dry scoops…improperly measured flour can make cookies spread too thin. Hope that helps, glad you liked them anyway!! :)
pommegranate and chocolate are the best couple! they taste really good together and your cookies look delicious
I really love cookies too, and I seldom see cookies that are so beautiful. And I am truly impressed that you’re a member of three cookie exchanges. Three!
Anna, I made these last night, adding a few more goodies. I’m going to do a post on my blog about them and give you and your blog LOTS of credit! Had leftover pomegranate arils on my oatmeal this A.M.
Sounds great! I’m looking forward to seeing your tweaks!
These cookies are so gorgeous! I can only imagine how great the pom seeds are in them!
I would’ve never thought to use pomegranate in a cookie! They’re beautiful (the fruit and your cookies)!
I think that part of what makes pomegranates so healthy is all the work that goes into reaching the seeds. :D
That’s an unusual combination, but I would love to try them out. These look wonderful and festive. Perfect for the holidays!
These are so beautiful! I have trouble with cookies. I either under bake or over bake. Cookies and pie crust are my nemesis. I love the pop of vibrancy on these.
I was thinking the same thing about the cookies. My only hope is I get people I sort of know and no one wants to hurt me. I got my first today and can’t wait to blog about them.
Done and done. These are so good and very festive. I actually had fun taking the arils out!
Thanks so much for reporting back! You must’ve had a pomegranate handy :)
Actually I happened to have to get my groceries that morning, and the week before my son saw the pomegranates in the store as we were leaving and I promised next time we’d buy one. I was glad to have a use for it! Although my son gobbled up the leftover arils like nobody’s business.
someone else brought that up to me yesterday – i was like “no! bloggers are totally trustworthy!”…. it hadn’t even occurred to me that maybe a non-blogger would target an unsuspecting group of online food addicts with the intention of snuffing out our virtual gluttony…. meh. i’m sure it’s fine.
I keep seeing pomegranates in Wegmans produce department and remembering how beautiful they are when cut open. Your idea is just what I need ’cause I love to add all things red (eg, cranberries) to cookies. Thanks for posting this one, Anna.
The red certainly adds something special! The process of getting the arils definitely adds to the prep time but it’s worth it and you can eat a few to keep yourself going :)
I love pomegranates and just baked with them a few weeks ago. These sound delicious!
Oh yum! The cookies look so tasty! I just love cookies! No mater how many I eat, I can’t seem to get enough. :)
Beautiful cookies! So festive :)
Wow, must try!