Granola Cookies

As a teenager, my after-school job was babysitting for a wonderful family, who had a wonderful neighbor who made the best cookies ever. (This neighbor also had a swimming pool that we could use whenever we liked. Huge bonus.) The cookies were huge and chocked full of stuff - chocolate, nuts, oats, I didn't really know what exactly was in them, but they were the cherry on top of a great after-school/summer gig.

Later in life, I called that neighbor specifically to get that cookie recipe, which she gladly shared. Alas, they weren't the same. When I made them, they seemed so ordinary. Maybe it was eating them poolside that made them so spectacular in my memory?

However, THESE. These granola cookies are as close as I've ever gotten to those full-o-stuff chocolate chip cookies I recall so fondly. Standard chocolate chip cookie batter + granola mixed in = amazing.

After all, I seem to always have granola on hand. In addition to my own occasional batches, my mom also makes granola, gifted to me repackaged in the wheat germ jars that she seems to always have on hand, even though I have yet to discover what she is using all that wheat germ for. I like granola in yogurt, on ice cream, sometimes a bedtime snack with a little almond milk poured over it, sometimes a morning snack at my desk when I just need a little something with my single daily cuppa joe. But granola in cookie form? I think I have a new favorite.

Granola Cookies
Adapted from the cute cookbook Breakfast for Dinner by Lindsay Landis & Taylor Hackbarth, they recommend using a simple granola with just oats and nuts in the mix - but what the hell, if your granola has blueberries and apricots in it, live dangerously and use it.

2 and 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups granola
1/2 cup rolled oats (aka, old-fashioned oatmeal)
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy; mix in eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture until well incorporated, then stir in granola and oats, followed by chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonful onto baking sheet, leaving about 2" between. Bake for 12-14 mins or until buffed and edges are lightly golden. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 mins, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.