Cherry‑Almond Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Mom & Cousin Terri, ca 1949
(both cookie lovers!)

The chocolate-cherry-almond combination in these cookies makes them delicious and a little out of the ordinary for chocolate chip cookies. They won a blue ribbon at the 2013 Clatsop County fair in the Chocolate Chip division (the first time I'd entered anything in a fair).

Cherry‑Almond Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 Tbs (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup old‑fashioned oats
1 to 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 to 1 cup dried tart cherries
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat oven to 325° F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in egg and both extracts. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in oats, then chocolate chips, cherries and almonds.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies 12 to 14 minutes. Dough can be prepared ahead, formed into “logs” wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated. Then slice and bake.

Makes 2 dozen.