White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

In anticipation for Christmas, I have been testing out baking recipes for the last week. After one too many pinterest fails, I decided to make a few tweaks of my own to a couple recipes I stumbled upon. This recipe worked out beautifully - these cookies are so soft and chewy and are a perfect little festive treat. I tested them out on my family (a rather blunt bunch of people I might add) and they were an absolute hit! I'll definitely be making these again come Christmas day.

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup butter (room temperature works best, if too soft it will cause your cookies to come out flat)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- a pinch of salt
- 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions:
- Beat together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add in flour, salt, baking soda, and cornstarch until a soft dough is formed. By hand, add in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.
- Refrigerate dough for at least an hour, this is crucial to ensure your cookies do not turn out flat.
- Preheat oven to 350F, prepare by lining baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove chilled dough from refrigerator and roll 1 inch balls. Place on baking sheet ~2 inches apart.
- Bake for approx 6-10 minutes depending on your oven. I found 7 minutes to be the perfect timing for my oven.
- Don't fret if your cookied appear undercooked, they will settled even after they've been removed from the oven.
- Let cookies settle on baking sheet for ~5 minutes once removed from oven before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- Lastly, dig in!

I hope you try out this recipe, make sure to share your experience with me if you do!

Recipe | Chia Seed Pudding

Not going to lie, when it comes to healthy "desserts" my first reaction is to scoff and opt for a Reese's peanut butter cup. I always come across recipes that will "satisfy your sweet tooth" and it's typically a bite sized rice cake variety with cinnamon on it (I'll pass...thank you). So now that I'm trying to eat healthier - or cleaner I should say, I'm always on the hunt for easy, innovative recipes that don't consider kale to be an alternative to a Mars bar.

That being said, you can take my word for when I say this recipe makes for a perfect little snack and an excellent breakfast option! I for one, am not a pudding person. I'm pretty indifferent towards it, but with the added fruit toppings this makes for an awesome breakfast leaving you feeling awesome about starting your day on a healthy note!

For those that aren't too familiar with chia seeds let me just give you a mini run down on these little guys. Chia seeds are an awesome source of omega-3 fats, they actually have 3x the omega-3s that flax seeds have! They're also a great source of fiber, calcium, protein, manganese & phosphorus. Basically, they get you full faster, are great for your heart health, fight off pesky belly fat (can I get a woop woop!), and are a cholesterol free way of adding protein to your diet. Best of all? They're tasteless and super easy to add to your meals. I even sprinkle them in my grilled cheeses. 

What you'll need:

2 c.        almond milk (You can also use coconut milk or soy milk)

1/4 c.     chia seeds

2 tsp.     vanilla extract

Last but certainly not least, toppings of your choosing. I opted for a sprinkle of cinnamon and a handful of raspberries!

Other toppings I recommend:

- granola

- mixed berries

- chopped nuts (almonds and pistachios are delicious with fruit)

- a sprinkle of brown sugar for added sweetness

Attention chocolate lovers: You can even mix in some cocoa powder to make this into a tasty little chocolatey treat!

Once you mix all the ingredients together, you want to make sure your chia seeds are evenly mixed in with your pudding mix. Unfortunately for us impatient type, you have to let this sit for around 8 hours. I tend to make mine at night so I can dive into it the next morning!

Once your pudding has settled overnight, go right ahead and add your toppings and you're good to go!