OY! KRISTEN

I wanted to make a festive cookie in honor of the Christmas season, and this little one was born. I LOVE IT. I've been doing a lot of experimenting with pomegranate lately and I am loving every single use for it. On salads, in drinks, and now, in cookies! In this recipe, the pomegranate seeds replace the raisin in a typical oatmeal cookie, and they add a much brighter punch to this one. And the dark chocolate mixed with the flavor of the pomegranate juice... mmm it's sinfully good. Surprisingly, the pomegranate arils hold up remarkably well during the baking process.

This recipe is essentially for a double batch (around 60 cookies), but I purposely made it this way because these are the best cookies to share! Also, if you make a ton of the dough, then you can just leave it in your freezer and pop a few cookies in the oven whenever you have a hankering :) But you can obviously cut this recipe in half if you have more self control than me. I find myself waking up at 3am like, MUST HAVE POM COOKIES. It's a wonderful problem. Prepare to get addicted, friends.

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups organic flour
- 2 cups oats
- 1 cup pomegranate arils (here's a great tutorial on how to remove pomegranate seeds from the fruit)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips (or you can use semi-sweet - I love these from Ghiradelli)
- 1 cup butter, softened at room temperature (I love using salted Kerrygold - you can taste the difference!)
- 1 cup organic brown sugar
- 1/2 cup organic granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- a pinch of cinnamon

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease your baking sheets.

2. Using a beater or mixer, cream together the butter and the sugars. TASTE IT. That, right there, is like my favorite taste on Earth. Savorrrrrrrr. Okay, moving on.

3. Once the butter and sugars are creamy and smooth, add in the eggs and vanilla. Continue to mix well.

4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir them together until the ingredients are evenly mixed.

5. While your mixer is on, slowly add the dry mix into the butter/sugar situation. Allow the mixtures to combine before adding more dry mix. Continue this until the dry mix is completely mixed in. Oh dough.

5. Finally, using a spoon, stir in the chocolate chips and pomegranate arils. Be gentle with the pomegranate, because those seeds might burst if they are handled too vigorously. Protect the seeds, and they will be good to you.

6. Spoon out the dough mixture and roll the dough into 1-inch balls (a little smaller than a ping pong ball), placing them an even distance apart on the baking sheet.

7. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. They might not look completely done when you take them out of the oven, but take them out! You really don't want this cookie crispy, because it is SO GOOD when it's just lightly golden. Trust me here. If you have a cookie rack, transfer the cookies and allow them to cool for a few minutes.

I'm excited for you to try these! I like to pretend these are okay to eat for breakfast because they have oats in them... so I eat them for breakfast.

If you give them a whirl, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Happy munching and sharing this Christmas season, my friends! xox.

P.S. - My giveaway for this 2016 Papermoss Post Card Calendar ends tonight and the winner will be contacted tomorrow. Make sure to place your entry!

It's such a tremendously fun time of year, isn't it? The holiday decor is competing for our attention at Target (do I focus on Thanksgiving? Or do I just dive straight into Christmas? BOTH. ALWAYS BOTH.) The temperatures have dropped, so we get to cozy up to our loved ones and wear hats and gloves and chunky boots. Well, I'm sure that's the case somewhere in the world. My New York friends are certainly doing that. My Georgia friends... well, we are all confused about the weather here. Like, why is it always raining?? And tricking us with the threat of tornadoes? We prefer winter wonderlands. But whatever - LET'S DRINK SPIKED POMEGRANATE JUICE.

I concocted this for the flurry of bridal festivities a few weeks back, and it was so girly and different and good. It would be a great holiday appetizer cocktail for all the upcoming smashing events that I know are on your calendar. Enjoy, friends!

Ingredients:
- 2 oz. gin
- 2 oz. pomegranate juice (I prefer POM)
- 2 oz. club soda
- 2 lime wedges
- fresh mint leaves

Method:
1. Combine gin, pomegranate juice and the juice of 1 lime wedge in a shaker. Shake mixture well.
2. Fill a highball glass (or in my case, a stemless wine glass) with ice and a few sprigs of fresh mint. Muddle that mint a bit. It's asking for it.
3. Pour drink mixture into the glass. Garnish with extra mint and another lime wedge on the side. You're so fancy.