Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is the time of each year when I usually get sick and this year didn't disappoint. I'm moving into my second week of this flu and I'm still weak with body aches;even my teeth hurt. I'm not much of a sleeper normally, my usual night is 5-6 hours, tops. But with this bug, it's like I can't get enough sleep. I'm exhausted and spend every minute I'm not working, napping or laying down on the couch recovering from having to be awake all day. It's crazy.
The plus side, if there is one to being sick, is that all this lounging around and feeling crappy, has actually allowed me to get organized and plan some blog ideas for this year. While I wasn't unconscious, Pinterest was there inspiring and motivating me to get well. My list of things to do getting ever longer as I flipped through beautiful pictures and pinned my heart out. :)
Since I didn't have the energy to cook, I figured I could at least organize my old blog photos and that's when I stumbled on these pictures of my Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies I made this last summer. I know you're probably asking...How did you forget to blog cookies? Honestly...I'm not quite sure how these fell through the cracks. But I'll take it as a good sign that in the heart of winter, I'm able to bring you a little taste of summer with these delicious cookies. I'm starting to feel better already!
Enjoy!
White Chocolate Chip Blueberry Cookies (adapted recipe from Twice Remembered)
Makes 4-5 dozen
1 c. unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. granulated sugar
2 large egg, room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
3 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
2 t. hot water
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. dried blueberries (see below for a how to)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with the salt. Stir in flour until incorporated and then add the chocolate chips and blueberries. Use a small cookie scoop to drop cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake about 10 minutes.
Drying Blueberries
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Rinse and sort 2 pints of blueberries removing any over-ripe fruit.
Bring pot of water to a boil. I used my pasta pot that had the strainer insert so that I could easily lift the blueberries out of the water all at once. If you don't have a pasta pot, then have a strainer handy.
Once the water is boiling, add the blueberries into the boiling water. Immerse the blueberries for about 30 seconds. This will crack the outer skin and allow for water to escape when drying. Promptly remove blueberries from the water. Spread blueberries out in a single layer on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake blueberries for 1-3 hours* until desired dryness.
* I dried my blueberries for three hours and they were very dry. Good for long term storage but a bit too dry for cookies. To soften them up a bit, I soaked the blueberries in hot water for about 30 minutes and drained them prior to adding them to the cookie dough. Next time I'll cut down on the drying time to about 2 hours so I don't have to rehydrate them. Enjoy!
See photo below: If you don't want to bake all the cookies at once, these are easy to freeze. Spread them out on a cookie sheet so that they are not touching each other and place in the freezer for about an hour. Once the cookie dough is mostly frozen, transfer the cookie dough into a freezer bag and place in the freezer. Write baking instructions on the outside of the bag. Pull out as little or as much as you want to bake.
Other cookie recipes:
Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
Cinnamon Cheesecake Cookies
Heath Bar Cookies