Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

A week before the 2020 election, the Boston Globe had an article about the former Family Circle First Lady Cookie Contest. The author said that a lot of people thought the whole idea of that contest was stale, stupid, and sexist, but that she disagreed, and that we needed this contest now more than ever.

"Stress baking in reaction to the pandemic, racial injustice, and a divided electorate is huge right now. That makes this the absolute worst time to take away this chance ... to rationally and respectfully debate butter versus Crisco, walnuts versus pecans, and food processor versus hand-beating. ... Critics wonder how a candidate's spouse's baking prowess ended up driving our democracy. I think I can answer that. ... More than a delicious diversion, this contest is also a polling tool at least as accurate as most pundits. A 2020 cookie contest could give us something to go on in the event of a delayed outcome next month."

This was published as Jill Biden's favorite cookie. The Globe noted, "Very large, chunky oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and chocolate chunks are favorites of Jill Biden. Only six mounds of dough go onto the baking sheet at once (the balls are 1/3-cup each), then they're flattened and baked until golden. The recipe comes from "Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner," by Giada de Laurentiis, who also made it for the Food Network."

See also Sugar cookies

• 1 C flour
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 C light brown sugar
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 2 C old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 C dried cranberries
• 1 bar (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (for smaller cookies, lightly grease 3 cookie sheets).

Whisk dry ingredients together.

Cream butter and sugars; add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Gradually add dry ingredients.

Stir in oats, cranberries, and chocolate. The dough will be stiff and a little hard to mix, so a hand-held mixer may not be up to this.

Original recipe said to place 6 1/4-cop mounds of dough on each of 2 cookie sheets; but I'd rather have more smaller cookies so I'll say drop a dozen 2 Tablespoon blobs on each cookie sheet. Either way, flatten them with the heel of your hand.

Bake until lightly golden; 15 to 18 minutes for the big cookies, maybe less for smaller ones.