Coconut Cranberry Chews

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (3/4 pound) Challenge Butter (room temperature)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 12 x 15 inch cookie sheets
2. In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat 1 1/2 cups butter, sugar, orange peel and vanilla extract until smooth. Beat in egg until well blended.
3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes. The mixture may look dry until it comes together as a dough. If its too crumbly to form into balls, the dough need to be mixed longer; it should be a smooth homogeneous mass.
4. Mix in cranberries and coconut.
5. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake until cookie edges just begin to brown, 11 to 15 minutes (shorter baking time will yield a chewier cookie; longer baking time will yield a crispier cookie). If baking two sheets at once in one oven, switch their positions halfway through baking.
7. Let cookies cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then use a wide spatula to transfer to racks to cool completely.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: Challenge Dairy