White Chocolate, Strawberry and Oatmeal cookies

My New Year's resolution is to try 10 new recipes a month. (We'll see how it goes.) I made these cookies (from the May 2007 Cooking Light) on January 1.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup regular oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped dried strawberries
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine flour, oats, soda and salt. Place sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer; beat at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes). Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended. Add strawberries and chips; beat at low speed just until blended.
3. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on pan 1 minute before cooling completely on a wire rack.

~Makes 2 dozen~

Notes: I don't have a stand mixer so I simply used a hand mixer for all blending until the addition of the strawberries and chocolate chips. The final blending I did by brawn (i.e. with a spoon). These come out beautifully if you use parchment paper to line the cookies sheets rather than greasing - less spreading, I found. If you can't find dried strawberries or that ingredient seems a bit pricey (I paid $5 for a bag containing ~1 cup), I think craisins would be good as well.